Untouchable
by xmjcx
Summary: Bethyl AU. When Merle is sent to jail for dealing, Daryl Dixon is the only person around who is capable of caring for his niece, Ella. Tired of everything to do with life in the city, Daryl packs his life up in boxes and moves the pair of them to a small town in Georgia. It's there that he meets a helpful shop assistant who might just change both of their lives for the better.
1. Chapter 1

_**"You're untouchable, burning brighter than the sun, and when you're close, I feel like coming undone"**_

 _ **\- Taylor Swift, 'Untouchable'**_

* * *

Beth hummed to herself as she folded up the t-shirts that had arrived on the delivery that day, trying with all of her might to resist the urge to glance over at the time on the clock that rested next to the cash register at the till. Beth was certain that she was at least half way through her shift and so far, she had managed to avoid checking the time all day, so she didn't want to ruin the new record. Working in retail certainly wasn't fun and she spent most of her shifts wishing the hours away, but the job was helping to pay her way through college, and Beth supposed that that was the most important factor of all.

Besides, working at Lori's wasn't _that_ bad. Beth had always loved children and was training to become a teacher, so working in a children's clothes store seemed almost natural for her. Besides, it seemed like a more fun job than cleaning up after drunks at the bar did, which was what her older sister Maggie had to do every weekend. The girls lived in a small town in Georgia - Beth still living at home with her parents and her brother whilst Maggie had moved out to live with her fiance Glenn - and after some of the experiences that she'd had in local bars combined with the stories that she had been told by Maggie, Beth honestly believed that there was no type of drunk that was worse than a small town drunk.

Lori's was quiet. It was always quiet and Beth was dumbfounded as to how the store managed to make enough money for it to stay open, but somehow, it did. The store itself was owned by none other than Lori Grimes, and the woman even made some of the stock that they sold; like the headbands and the frilly skirts and tutus. Lori was a sweet woman; a mother of two children - a teenage boy named Carl and a two year old daughter named Judith - and she was married to the town sheriff, Rick Grimes. Lori worked hard to make her money and spent a lot of time in the store, but she seemed to love working there and her positive energy really brightened up the atmosphere.

It was just Beth and Lori at the store. Lori's was open Monday through to Saturday and Lori opened up most days. Beth worked for her as much as she could, always penciling herself in for shifts whenever she was free from her classes or had any spare time off from college. Rick Grimes was a family friend, and it had been him who had suggested to her daddy that Beth come and work for Lori part-time because she could do with the help. Although Beth had signed a contract that stated that she would work eight hours per week, she often ended up racking close to thirty hours. Lori offered Beth cash in hand so that she could keep all of her money for herself, and Beth collected her wage at the end of every shift. She deposited the money she earned into her bank account every week and used it to get through the long days at college.

Some weeks, she even managed to put some of her spare cash into the saving's account that her daddy had set up for her when she was just a little girl.

The sound of the bell ringing to signal that someone had entered the shop caused Beth to jump a little in surprise as she was quickly dragged out of her thoughts, and Beth almost dropped the items of clothing that she had just folded neatly straight onto the floor due to her fright. Her mama had always told her that her head was in the clouds, and Beth couldn't deny that her mother was right.

Annette Greene always seemed to be right about pretty much everything.

Beth stood on her tiptoes to glance over the tall stands that were splattered across the store in order to get a good look at who had entered the store. There were plenty of regulars who stopped by during the week; sometimes to buy things, sometimes to browse, other times purely just to chat away to Beth for a while and ask about her father and his farm. For what had to be the first time in a long time, Beth didn't recognise the man who was strolling around the store and looking straight at the girls things, seeming more than a little tense and uncomfortable.

His eyes were narrowed at the tutus as though they had offended him and Beth couldn't help but be immediately curious about him.

The thing with small towns was that everyone knew _everyone,_ and it was odd if anyone passed by her in the street who she didn't know the name of. It was even stranger for her to not recognise someone who was shopping at Lori's.

Beth busied herself with placing the freshly folded tees on a stand and tried not to make it too obvious that she was peeking over at the customer as he rummaged around, looking more than a little bit lost and out of place. From the angle that she was stood at, she wasn't able to get a good look at him, and in the end her curiosity took over her.

It was as though her body was on auto-pilot as Beth pushed herself away from the boys section where she had been straightening up some of the clothes and made a beeline for the man. She told herself that she was simply doing what Lori always told her to do: provide every customer with excellent customer service in order to boost sales and give Lori's a good name.

Beth was coming up from behind him and she couldn't help but notice how tall and broad he was. Beth had spotted it from the moment that he had entered the store, but now that she was this close, he was actually kind of intimidating.

But Beth shook that thought away immediately.

The small heels of her cowboy boots had been clicking loudly on the hard floor the way that they always did as she approached him, so Beth knew that the stranger would be able to hear her coming in his direction, but even as she appeared almost directly behind him, the man didn't turn around to acknowledge her. Instead, he stood firmly in place, a little basket in his hand as he stared at the selection of bright pink and purple and yellow dresses.

"Hi," Beth said as she stood at the stranger's side, turning her head a little so that she could get a glimpse of his face. "Can I help you at all?"

The man turned his head so that he was facing her and Beth's heart sped up at the tiniest rate. He was completely unfamiliar; his brown hair shaggy and falling slightly into his blue eyes, his jaw relaxed but defined and clearly strong, decorated with a hint of stubble. Beth had never been a fan of facial hair, but now she was beginning to think that it wasn't all that bad, actually. That combined with his huge arms that were on show due to the sleeveless flannel that he was wearing and the tan of his skin left Beth feeling just a little more curious about him than she already had been.

The stranger was attractive, to say the least. Beth couldn't place his age, but imagined him to be in his early to mid thirties. That would peg him at being around ten years (give or take) older than her twenty two years and Beth had never been much of a fan of older men, either; but now she was beginning to think that they too weren't all that bad.

Beth had to have been staring at him for a good few seconds before he frowned at her a little, clearly confused. The man's eyes darted around the shop as if checking to see if anyone else was around before he nodded his head sharply at her.

Having been so busy taking in his physical appearance, Beth had almost completely forgotten that she had even asked him a question in the first place.

"Who is that you're shopping for today?" Beth asked.

 _Shit, do I sound too nosey?_ Beth hoped that she didn't. She just had a habit of saying things without thinking them through, and she couldn't help but wonder if he would just think that she was another town gossip like most of the other women who lived in the area. Beth had only asked him that so that she would have a better knowledge of what type of things to look for and what age clothes to pick out for him.

At least, that's what she told herself. It had nothing to do with wanting to know whether he had any children himself. Or perhaps even a wife, or a girlfriend.

 _Nope._

 _Nothing to do with that at all._

"M'niece," he told her, and Beth tried to hide her relief that he didn't say it was for his daughter.

Not that she was relieved.

At all.

Beth spied for a ring as casually as she could, but she didn't catch a glimpse of one. Just because he wasn't married didn't mean that he was necessarily available and she absent-minded chewed on her lower lip as she contemplated whether straight up asking him whether he was single was too much for right now.

 _Yeah, it was definitely too much._

"How old is she?" Beth asked, immediately snapping into her work mode and drifting towards the girls clothes that were much less in-your-face. Beth had thought that these would appeal much more to him and he immediately looked more comfortable as they moved away from the glitter and sparkles.

"Six," he grunted, and Beth tried not to think much about how amazing his voice sounded. It was low and deep and _rough,_ and she tried to hide the goosebumps that had appeared up her arms at the sound of him speaking.

Beth had never met anyone who could make a number sound sexy before. In fact, she was pretty certain that she had never met anyone who could make _anything_ sound sexy before, and her cheeks were threatening to burn red just at the thought of it.

She began to hum to herself as she started picking up pieces that she thought he might like, asking him briefly whether his niece was small or tall for her age. The stranger shrugged his shoulders and genuinely looked so confused that Beth had to laugh.

It was kind of adorable.

 _He_ was kind of adorable.

The man smirked a little when she laughed and raised one of his brows at her, but he didn't make a comment about it. Beth was almost a little disappointed at that. She wanted nothing more than to hear the sound of his voice once again.

Beth kept trying to talk him through her choices and managed to get it out of him that his niece was a fan of pink and that he needed bits of everything because she would be living with him for a while. Beth desperately wanted to ask him why but she held her tongue and smiled sweetly instead, nodding her head and trying her hardest not to intrude. After all, it wasn't her place. She didn't even know this man's name, she couldn't go around asking such personal questions.

"Is that everything for you?" Beth asked as they made their way over to the till, both of their arms filled with clothing.

The man looked down at the huge bundles in their arms and then up at her eyes and Beth stifled a giggle at his expression. It seemed like he was really out of his depth here and she was glad that she had taken the chance to help him, otherwise he would have probably been stood in the store all night trying to pick out something that his niece would like.

"You reckon I need more?"

Okay, he was _definitely_ adorable. He might not have necessarily looked it at first, but from what she had seen so far, Beth was certain that he was. There was no other way to describe it.

His question caused her to actually giggle and she partly felt bad for laughing at his expense, but he was smirking after a moment and Beth didn't feel as bad anymore. She quickly shook her head no as she began scanning the items through the till, folding them up neatly like Lori had trained her to do when she first started working at the store.

"I think you have more than enough," Beth told him. "Would you like me to wrap it all in pink tissues and use the ribbons we have? Then you could tell her that these are presents and make more of a special occasion out of it."

The man looked like he was weighing it up for a moment but still looked a little confused as to what to do and Beth decided to just reach underneath the till and grab the pink tissue, helping him along.

"My treat," she told him as she ripped off some of the tissue paper and began placing a handful of items in it. "Just don't tell Lori. She wants us to charge extra for this service, but I think you're spending enough in here to warrant a _little_ bit of a discount."

Beth got to work on the wrapping up the items, making sure to be as neat as possible; and the stranger just bent down and rested his forearms on the other side of the till, watching with intense eyes as she carefully placed the clothing inside the paper.

Beth stole a few glances at him as she wrapped up the clothes and smiled at him each time he caught her looking. Her cheeks were tinged pink and she was surprised that she wasn't blushing more furiously. Beth was never usually this confident, but there was just something about this man that made her feel relaxed and at ease. It was probably his laid back attitude, more than anything - he seemed disinterested, but not in a rude way; and Beth thought that he probably didn't care much about what she thought of him.

Even though she thought he was possibly the most attractive man that she had ever met.

"So are you new in town?" Beth asked, trying to start some more personal small-talk with him as she began bagging up his items.

The stranger was quiet and seemed reserved, but not completely unwilling to give her any information. He just grunted at her and nodded his head so quickly that she probably would have missed it if she hadn't been watching for it. She was quiet for a moment as she concentrated on wrapping up the next item and was surprised when he spoke up.

"You live round here?"

Beth nodded at his question and smiled up at him, appreciating the fact that this was the first time that he had made an effort to address her. Sometimes, Beth felt as though she was pestering people (not just customers) to death and that she was overly bothering them. His small contribution to their conversation boosted her confidence in more ways than he probably realised.

"Sure do," she said. "Been here all my life."

He let out a low whistle upon hearing that, but he didn't comment about it any more. From that point on, Beth decided to carry on with her work in silence, trying her best to work at a quick pace so not to keep him waiting too long. She placed all of the items into the pretty light pink bags that had 'Lori's' printed in white on the side and apologised for having to give him so many to carry.

"'S a good job I brought the car," he mumbled, and Beth knew that he was talking to himself more than he was talking to her, but she couldn't help but want to know more about the stranger. He just seemed so interesting and pretty mysterious, too; and the more that she looked at him, the more attractive she realised he was. The thought continued to make her blush and her heart was starting to pick up speed again as his blue eyes stared her down.

Beth couldn't remember the last time anyone had caught her attention like this.

"What else do you drive?" Beth asked, genuinely interested.

The stranger looked at her for a long moment before he decided to answer, handing over a wad of cash to pay for the items. She accepted the money and quickly counted it out in front of him before placing it in the register.

"Got my bike," he told her, and Beth nodded her head eagerly.

"I ride my bike, too," she said, and the man actually snorted at that.

Beth wasn't sure what was funny but she smiled at him anyway, frozen on the spot for a second or two before she dipped her hand back into the register and pulled out his change.

"What?" She asked, giggling a little whilst he shook his head.

"I ain't got a push bike," he said, and Beth's eyes widened in realisation. "Meant a motorcycle."

It took a few seconds, but then Beth was laughing, and the stranger laughed, too. She shook her head and felt a little bit ridiculous as she pulled out the twelve dollars that made his change, pushing the cash register closed with her hip as she leaned over the till to pass him his money.

"That's twelve," she said as she held out the money towards him, but he raised his hand into the air so that she couldn't place any of the change in it whilst his other hand reached to grab the bags that were littered across the till area. Beth blinked at him several times, her face blank as she looked over him.

"Keep it," he said, and Beth was shocked that he was tipping her.

Nobody ever tipped at Lori's.

"As a thanks. For helpin' me..." he explained after a few more seconds, trailing off and narrowing his eyes at her top as though he expected her to be wearing a name tag.

Beth smiled at that.

Maybe he was just as curious about her as she was about him.

"Beth," she told him. "Beth Greene."

Beth wasn't sure why it was important to her that he knew her full name. It just _was_. Beth didn't want to remain in his mind as just 'Beth - the girl who works at Lori's.'

She wanted him to know her full name. _Just in case._

"Beth," He repeated with a nod, as if he was trying out the taste of her name on his tongue.

Beth liked the way that it sounded when he said her name.

"Yes sir," she said, beaming up at him. "Thanks for the tip..."

Beth looked at his sleeveless flannel shirt the same way that he had looked at hers just before in a playful manner and she was glad that he understood she was gently teasing him. He chuckled lowly before telling her his name.

"Daryl," he said, and Beth immediately thought that it suited him. "Daryl Dixon."

Beth smiled at the sound of his full name and watched as he took a step backwards from the till, his body slowly turning towards the direction of the door as he picked up the bags from the counter and placed his arms by his sides. The sight of him standing there with pink and white bags in his hands was more than just a little bit amusing, but Beth tried not to laugh.

"Daryl Dixon," she repeated, loving the way that his name sounded in her voice and thinking that from the slight way his eyes widened and his cheeks tinged a faint red that he liked the sound of it, too. "I hope your niece likes her things. I'll see you around."

The man - Daryl - nodded at her before moving towards the door.

"Yeah," he said. "See ya around, Beth."

* * *

 **Thank you all for reading and please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone!**

 **This is my second attempt at writing a fanfiction and is also my second attempt at a Bethyl story (can you tell that a pattern is forming here?). I'm glad that you seem to like the sound of this story so far and I just wanted to thank everyone who has favourited/followed/reviewed this story based on the last chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you did the first!**

* * *

 _ **"This is the start of something beautiful,**_

 _ **You are the start of something new"**_

 _ **\- 'This', Ed Sheeran**_

* * *

Daryl placed the shopping bags onto the passenger seat of the car and started up the engine before running his hands over his face, sighing and rubbing his eyes for a moment. The last few weeks had been long and dramatic and tiring; completely draining all of his energy and causing him to feel like he was practically dead on his feet. Daryl put the car into gear and reversed out of the lot as quickly as possible, fighting the strong urge to glance in his mirror and sneak another look at the sales assistant who was stood at the shop entrance, watching him drive away.

 _Beth._

Daryl entertained the idea of her being genuinely interested in him for a moment as he set out on the road back to his new apartment complex. Daryl had never really been a fan of small towns and was much more of a city-living type of guy. Small town people had never really interested Daryl, either; but now he had arrived here and met her - Beth Greene - and he'd be damned if he didn't have a sudden change of heart and mind, because just after getting a glimpse of her, Daryl was deciding that small town people really weren't all that bad.

He tried not to think on about Beth's golden hair and how long it was as it fell down her neck and back as he picked up the pink shopping bags and carried them out of the car and towards the entrance of the complex. The place wasn't anything special; boasting about six or seven stories at most, having basically nothing on the skyscrapers that he was used to walking past. But the complex was modern and clean, both outside and inside, and it wasn't in the worst area of town, either. The owner - some old man called Dale who had definitely passed the retirement age - was renting the place out to him for cheap enough, too; which Daryl definitely considered a bonus since he was still looking for work.

Daryl had mentioned that to Dale when he was viewing the apartment; not because he really wanted to, but because Dale had asked and Daryl figured that it was only natural for a landlord to want to know that they would be able to rely on their tenants to pay the rent. Daryl still wasn't convincing himself that the only reason the old man asked was so that he knew he was basically guaranteed to have his money paid in on time, but thoughts of any other reasons made Daryl feel slightly uncomfortable. Dale had encouraged Daryl to get himself down to a local farmer who was advertising that he needed help since his latest farmhand had passed away after a hunting accident, but Daryl had already seen an advertisement on an old window for an electrician, so Daryl thought that he would give that number a call first.

He tried not to think about the songs that Beth had been humming as he placed his key into the lock of his apartment door, struggling to balance all of the brightly coloured bags in his hands as he opened the door open. In the end, he eventually managed it and kicked it shut behind him with the edge of his boot. The apartment that he rented was on the third floor of the complex and the view wasn't so bad. It was nothing as breathtaking as his view of the city, but it wasn't awful, really. The living room of the apartment looked straight out at the long road that stretched off one of the main highways that ran right through the center of the town and brought you straight to the complex. There was land visible on either side of the road, but both of the bedroom's had a much better view of that, and the plains seemed to stretch on for miles in every direction.

Still, Daryl couldn't help but miss the sight of tall buildings and bright lights and planes flying low. He missed the business of the city and the way that so many people were always on the go. The city and its way of life had always reminded him that even though he may have been alone, he was never _really_ alone. There was always someone around every corner doing something differently.

Here, there wasn't so much of that going on anywhere. Hell, he had hardly even seen anyone other than Beth and his niece so far.

There she was again, popping up in his mind and he barely even knew her. What was he doing? Clearly his months of abstinence were starting to affect his brain and it was all starting to turn him soft. It had been a long time since he'd been with anyone; since before all of the shit happened with Merle, before Ella - his niece - came into his care. Daryl hadn't even had much time to think about himself whilst he was looking after his niece and waiting on the news about Merle's trial, never mind think about anyone else or being with anyone else - not even for a night.

So he tried not to think about the way that Beth smiled as he walked into Ella's bedroom. The apartment boasted two double bedrooms, one bathroom and an open plan living space that led straight into the kitchen and dining area. The place was fully furnished and Dale had even been kind enough to tell Daryl that he could re-decorate Ella's room if he wanted to.

* * *

 _"Feel free to make it a little more homely, if you like," Dale said as he and Daryl stood in the doorway of the master bedroom, watching as Ella opened up the huge wardrobes to reveal their bare insides (bar from a few coat hands and an ironing board)._

 _Ella's head snapped around over her shoulder to face her Uncle and the landlord at the statement and Daryl swore that her blue eyes were twinkling with excitement. He knew before she even opened her mouth that the six year old was up to something._

 _Ella was always up to something._

 _"Does that mean we can paint the walls?" she asked, and Dale laughed heartily. Daryl smirked too, trying hard to push the thoughts of her father - his brother - away to the back of his mind._

 _But she was so much like him in every way. It was difficult to forget about Merle when he was living with someone who had half of the man's make up. Ella was in truth half of his brother, but in all honesty, she was more than half of him. She was all of him. Ella had his confidence, his stupid sense of humour (although her's wasn't as twisted and sick as her father's). She had his cheeky attitude and his boldness and the traits didn't stop with her personality, either. Ella had her father's eyes; a lighter blue than Daryl's, a blue that reminded him of warm summer days and cloudless skies. She had his grin, too - which was especially noticeable whenever she got her own way - and she even had the same fucking nose as Merle._

 _How that worked, Daryl didn't have a clue, and it kind of scared him. But either way, this girl was a constant walking reminder of Merle; so there was absolutely no way that he would be able to forget about his brother. Not whilst Ella was in his care._

 _And he had a feeling that she would be here for a long time._

 _"Yes," Dale had chuckled, nodding his head at the little girl. Daryl didn't know Dale very well at all, but he seemed friendly enough and interacted pretty damn well with his niece. Better than he was probably able to. "If your Uncle doesn't mind."_

 _"Oh, he doesn't," Ella said, beaming. "Do you, Daryl?"_

 _Daryl didn't like being told what to do. But this was different because this was his niece. He couldn't find it in him to say no to her and even at six, the girl knew it. Ella had him wrapped around her little finger and although he would never admit it, he didn't even really mind._

 _"Nah," Daryl said, shaking his head and looking right at Ella's sparkling eyes. She broke out into a huge grin as she looked around at the plain white walls._

 _"What are you thinking?" Dale asked her after a moment, and Ella's eyes snapped right back to his._

 _"Pink."_

* * *

Daryl tried not to think much about the way that Beth had giggled at him as he placed the pink bags on the bed and made a mental note to get that pink paint and some new bedding for Ella. She seemed to like the double bed that was placed in the center of the room and even though Daryl thought that it was a little bit much for a six year old, he wasn't going to take it from her. It was already there so they may as well keep it, and Daryl wasn't even bothered about whether or not he was spoiling the girl. Sure, he didn't want her to be a brat or anything, but she was his kin and he didn't want her growing up the way he did: with nothing.

He scratched his chin and looked around the room, contemplating what exactly he was going to do with it for Ella before he moved over towards the large window that the bed was facing towards. Ella's room backed onto the farmland and he had to admit that the view was pretty damn impressive from here. It may not have been a city skyline, but it looked as though the land stretched on for miles and miles and even though he couldn't see any animals at that moment, Dale had promised his niece that she would be able to see all sorts of farm animals from here. She was mostly excited about being able to see the horses, and Daryl was even a little bit excited for her.

What he would have given to spend his childhood being able to see horses from his room instead of a shit load of trailers in a crappy run-down trailer park in the middle of nowhere quickly crossed his mind, but he pushed that thought away just like he pushed away all thoughts of Beth Greene as he rested on the window ledge and glanced around the room once more.

Daryl supposed that it wasn't the worst place in the world for a kid to live in, but even so, it wasn't exactly the best. Daryl was still pissed at his brother for getting himself locked up in the first place and leaving Daryl to look after Ella.

But it wasn't as though Daryl didn't love or care for his niece or that he minded having her around him. It wasn't that at all. In fact, he kind of enjoyed her company and liked taking care of her. But whilst he may have been her kin, he sure as hell wasn't her daddy, and that was what his niece deserved to have over anything. Ella was sweet and innocent and she had never done any wrong by anyone. The little girl had already been abandoned by her mother who dumped her in Merle's care because she wasn't capable herself to look after her daughter and that had pissed Daryl off enough without adding to the fact that now she had been abandoned by her daddy who didn't have the sense to stay away from dealing drugs and got himself involved in gangs again.

The Dixon brother's had been brought up in a shitty household and Daryl was smart enough to know that people learned by experience. But he wasn't his dad and neither was Merle and they had made a vow together that they were never going to be like him, either. Daryl had never really thought much about having a wife or children or a family of his own, but he supposed that whilst he wasn't aching for it, he wasn't against the idea, either. If he was ever going to be someone's husband then he sure as hell wouldn't lay a finger on his wife; and if he was going to be someone's daddy, then he sure as hell wasn't going to beat his kids around and leave them to fend for themselves, either.

It saddened him more than anything because - stupid as it sounded - _Merle knew better._ And yeah, the feeling of abandonment was still raw and Daryl was bitter towards his brother because once more he had abandoned him for prison. But this time, it wasn't just Daryl who had been left behind - it was Merle's _daughter._

Daryl thought that if he ever had kids - and that was a very big 'if' anyway - then he was pretty damn sure he wouldn't leave them for anything.

His niece had been having a hard time coping with it and didn't quite understand what was going on. For a short while after her birth, Daryl had thought that perhaps having the responsibility of a child might change his brother for the better. And for a short while, it kind of did. But Daryl was naive enough to believe some of the shit that came out of Merle's mouth ( _and why he did believe him after all these years, he still didn't know_ ) and he had believed that he had been making his money decently and legally.

After his brother's arrest, Daryl had mostly blamed himself; thinking that maybe if he had payed more attention to all of the times when Ella was dumped at his place whilst Merle went floating about god-knows-where with god-knows-who, maybe if he would have asked more people about what Merle was up to, maybe if he would have just outright asked his damn brother about it, then maybe he could have put a stop to it. Maybe he would have been able to talk some sense into his brother and make him see what was obviously going to happen.

Maybe he could have prevented his niece from being left without her mama and her daddy.

It took a while for him to see it, but eventually, Daryl stopped blaming himself. The realisation hit him like a tonne of bricks one day and he finally snapped out of the spell that he had been under, in a trance of 'what if's' and 'maybe's', his mind overcome with shoulda-woulda-coulda scenarios. He was sad when Merle got sent down and for the sake of his niece having her father around, he wished that his brother hadn't been caught; but he had been, and there was nothing any of them could do about it now. Merle had made his own choices and decisions and he was a grown man who knew damn well what he was doing every time he shipped off cocaine or meth to the next person. Merle knew the risks and he did it regardless, knowing that it would be not only Daryl, but also Ella who he left behind if he got locked away.

And the selfish bastard did it anyway.

 _Typical Merle._

Daryl didn't want to tell Ella anything about it and was trying to come up with some good reasons for now until he thought that she was old enough to understand it better, but before he had even got chance to make something up, the cruel children at her school had beat him to the punchline. Daryl didn't want to lie to her and didn't have a clue what he was going to say to her about her daddy being sent down, but he never imagined having to deal with her running at him from the school yard in floods of tears screaming that she wanted her daddy and where had he gone?

The girl had caused a huge fuss and a big scene and Daryl had never been one for big scene's anyway, but Ella didn't care too much about that at the time. She sobbed her heart out for days afterwards and Daryl had always sworn that he would never lay a finger on a child after what his old man had done to him, but after finding out that one of the kids at school had told Ella everything that there was to know about her daddy - what he had done and where he was being sent to - Daryl was pretty close to snapping. He'd never come so close to wanting to hurt a child before and had to remind himself that that's all they were; children, and the reason that they had told her was because they were children.

Still, it didn't mend his nieces broken heart and Daryl felt completely lost. One day Ella was living with her daddy and the next day she was packing her things up and moving out of the city with her Uncle where they could be closer to where Merle was based in prison.

Being closer to Merle wasn't the only reason that Daryl had wanted to move, but it had been the main one. He also didn't want to keep Ella stuck in a place where people knew her father's story after it had been splattered all over the local news and papers, and he didn't want her to be judged by everyone and have it affect her as she was growing up. He didn't want to tell her that, though - didn't want to explain to her how he had been judged as a kid and how it had screwed him up something awful, and how he didn't want that for her.

Ella seemed to accept the first reason for them moving down here anyway, and Daryl was relieved. He just hoped that it lasted.

Daryl glanced at his watch and figured that it was about time that he set off to pick up Ella from the elementary school. When he had picked up and left his life in the city behind, he hadn't thought much into Ella's education and just assumed that he would be able to get her a place somewhere. The admin woman at the office hadn't been very impressed with his call, but she had informed him that there were places for his niece in the school's first grade class even though they were almost halfway through their first term, and that had been enough for Daryl to settle down in town.

He had been relieved that Ella didn't seem too nervous when he had dropped her off at the school gates for her first morning and she had just nodded her head at him when he told her that he would be picking her up later on. Ella was confident enough - just like her damned father - and she had never had any problems when it came to making friends before. Still, that didn't mean that Daryl wasn't worried about her. He couldn't help it. She might not have been his daughter; but she was Merle's and she was the only family that he had left now.

Daryl made a promise to her that he would look after her and when doing so, he made a promise to himself that he would do a better job than his dad - or Merle - ever did.

Even if it killed him.

* * *

 **Please remember that this story is AU, so the character's may seem a little bit different than they do on the show. This IS done on purpose; and I'm mainly worried that people won't take to the idea of Daryl being more of a city guy than a town's person, but that was the idea I wanted to explore for him in this story. I also think that it makes the idea of Merle being some big drug dealer that got busted more likely if they were living in a city as opposed to living in a small town. Does that make sense? I hope so.**

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**This is another chapter that basically wrote itself. I'm glad you seem to be liking this story so far!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **"He's magic and myth, as strong as what I believe.**_

 _ **A tragedy with more damage than a soul should see.**_

 _ **And do I try to change him? So hard not to blame him.**_

 _ **Hold on tight."**_

 **\- 'Beautiful Disaster', Kelly Clarkson**

* * *

Beth rushed to Lori's from the bus stop as quickly as she could, practically sprinting past the few people who were scattered around the center of town. She was out of breath when she finally reached the store and she burst through the door quickly, her blue eyes wide as they darted around the shop floor in search of Lori.

The door opened with it's typical give-away jingle and the brunette looked up from where she was chatting to an elderly woman at the till area. Beth's shoulders sagged in relief at the sight of her manager's smiling face, seemingly obvious to her lateness. Lori was still talking to the woman who was now paying for some items that she had picked out, but she waved over at Beth in acknowledgement before she turned her attention back to the paying customer.

That was what Beth loved about Lori: she was one of the most genuinely kind women that she knew, and she was always understanding.

Beth's breathing was heavy as she pushed herself up from where she was leaning against the doorframe and she made her way into the back area where her and Lori kept their belongings. Beth tossed her demin jacket and bag over one of the coatpegs that hung up there and darted back onto the shop floor as quickly as she could, glancing in the floor-length mirror at her messy appearance. Beth's hair was shoved in a half-up, half-down style and her cheeks were rosy from the effects of her running through town. She was donning her plain blue skinny jeans and a white polka dot crop top with her 'Lori's' lanyard dangling around her neck.

Lori was stood on her own at the till, the elderly customer seeming to have left her whilst Beth was placing her belongings in the back area, and the brunette was busy writing something down in a notepad when Beth approached. Lori was looking well, having lost all almost all of what she called her 'baby weight', and her hair was growing incredibly longer. Beth smiled at her manager as she brushed past her and apologised for being a few minutes late for her shift.

Lori dismissed Beth with a wave of her hand as she snapped her notepad shut.

"Don't you worry about that, Beth," Lori said. "You're doin' me a favour, coverin' here tonight. I really need to get us some extra help for these shifts to save you the trouble, but nobody in this town seems to want a job."

Beth noticed that Lori genuinely looked worn out and she couldn't help but sympathise with the older woman. Beth felt like she was rushed off her feet enough by balancing her college work and her shifts alongside her social life, she couldn't imagine throwing in two children to the mix - especially not a teenager and a toddler. Running the store was tiring enough without having to run a household as well, and Judith wasn't exactly being easy on her at the moment, either.

There had been a few occasions where Beth had tried suggesting to Lori that she should encourage Carl to come and work a few shifts at the store, but Lori had looked absolutely horrified at the suggestion. She insisted that she wouldn't be able to trust him to do a thing around the store - never mind open up or close down - as he was going through a phase at the moment where he wasn't very good at listening to what other's instructed of him.

* * *

 _"Then again, I don't know if it's much of a phase," Lori had joked one time. "I think it's just him turning into a man."_

 _Beth had quirked her eyebrow at that._

 _"What do you mean?" she said, not being able to help the grin that had slowly spread across her face as Lori gave her a knowing look._

 _"That I couldn't trust any man to listen to instructions."_

* * *

"Beth, are you sure that you'll be alright here on your own?"

Lori asked that question almost every time that Beth worked a shift without her, and even though it had been so long since Beth had started working for Lori and she knew the store like the back of her hand by now, Beth never said anything. Instead, she always simply nodded her head and insisted that of course she would be alright on her own and that Lori needn't worry about her, she was more than capable.

And true to her word, Beth always really was alright on her own. Working at Lori's was pretty much hassle-free. The shop was small enough for her to be able to manage by herself and the store never really got busy enough for her to class work as rushing her off her feet. Sometimes several customers would come in at once - maybe even a dozen or more on a Saturday all at the same time - but more often than not, people came shopping in drips and drabs, and Lori's was quiet but steady throughout the day and night. Beth always found something to keep her busy, but Lori had a habit of behaving like Beth was some sort of superwoman and acting as though the shop couldn't run without her.

Not for the first time, Beth wondered whether Lori actually really considered the fact that she was paying her to be there. Sure, Beth was doing her a favour by working so that she didn't have to put in any more hours than she already did - but it wasn't like she was doing it for free. There was no need for Lori to thank her every time that she came in to work.

"Make sure that you call me if you need anythin' at all, Beth," Lori told her, and Beth nodded her head in understand. Lori gave her a gentle smile as she swung her bag over her shoulder and looked around the store. "Alright, I think that's everything," she said as she checked in her bag. "Just take your wage out of the register at the end of the night, and I'll see you on Friday, alright?"

"Alright," Beth said. "See you Friday, Lori."

Lori gave Beth a little wave before she quickly skipped out of the shop, turning her head over her shoulder as Beth called after her to tell her to make sure that she had a good night.

"Don't enjoy yourself too much," the blonde said with a cheeky grin, and Lori just rolled her eyes.

"Don't you worry, Beth," Lori said with a smile. "With Rick there, it'll be impossible."

Lori was laughing as she pushed open the door to the store and waved goodbye and Beth laughed along with her too, but it was forced and uncomfortable. Lori's words made her feel more than a little bit uneasy. Beth always tried her hardest not to pry into other people's business and personal lives, especially if she had absolutely no right, and Lori was a genuinely lovely woman - but that didn't mean that she was immune to the gossip of the towns people. Beth did her best to ignore the whispers and the rumours that explored Lori's secrets, but she couldn't help but pick up on some things that people said.

Most people had began to notice how close Lori was to one of Rick's colleagues, Shane Walsh. Shane stopped by the store often enough and sometimes he even turned up to give Lori a lift home if she decided to walk to work in the morning on her way to dropping off the children at their school and daycare center. The two seemed awfully close, and Beth wasn't sure how Rick felt about his wife's friendship with Shane. However she was sure that he definitely wouldn't like it if he saw the way that the pair eyed each other hungrily whenever Shane came in to visit her.

Beth couldn't help but watch the pair from a distance, especially when there was really nothing else to do on days where they were really quiet. Beth always tried to distract herself with odd jobs whenever he came in because he just made her feel so awkward, but the store was small and it was difficult not to overhear certain things and not to notice the way that Shane's hands lingered on Lori a little too long or the way that Lori blushed like a teenager at his compliments and laughed a little too loudly at his jokes (which were never really funny at all).

Rick Grimes was such a _lovely_ man, too, and Beth thought that Lori was lucky to be married to him. Rick didn't look at Lori like she was his next meal the way that Shane did; but he did look at her with soft eyes and spoke to her in a kind tone. And whenever he touched her, his hands didn't linger or squeeze; and whenever he kissed her, he was always gentle and light. More than anything, he seemed respectful of his wife, and Beth thought that Rick seemed like a much nicer man than Shane was. He was probably a much nicer partner than Shane ever could be, too.

But Beth reasoned with herself that it wasn't her place to judge. Besides, she only had her suspicions based on a few things that she had seen and things that other's in town had said. It wasn't like there were any solid facts or hard evidence to prove that Lori was indeed having an affair with Shane.

Beth wasn't even sure that she would want to know the truth about it, either.

* * *

Overall, it was the same as usual at the store: a quiet night.

Beth was sweeping up the shop floor with forty five minutes to go and singing loudly to a song that was playing through the speakers on the shop floor when she heard the bell chime to signal that she had a customer. Beth's head shot up instantly at the sound and she stopped her singing suddenly, blue eyes widening dramatically when she saw who it was that had entered.

"Daryl?"

His name was a question on her lips even though she was more than aware that it was him who she could see and she carefully rested the broom against the till before she edged her way closer to him, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

She really should have at least brushed her hair before she started her shift.

Daryl had been looking around the store as though he was trying to seek out a shop assistant, and Beth secretly hoped that he had been looking for her.

Given that she had just met the man only a few days before, Beth knew all too well that it was a silly thing to hope for. But try as she might, Beth had honestly been unable to get the image of him out of her mind. Now that he was stood here in front of her once again, Beth thought that he was even more handsome than she had remembered him to be. She probably wouldn't have noticed that Daryl had cut his hair because he hadn't got rid of that much of it in reality, but it no longer fell into his eyes and the striking blue of them was too difficult for her to miss.

Beth debated complimenting him on his new hairstyle, but she figured that it would be best not to bother. Besides, she wouldn't know the right words to say without sounding silly and ridiculous. She could barely even speak to boys, she didn't have the faintest clue how she would speak to a _man_ like Daryl.

His ears seemed to perk up at the sound of her voice calling his name and he squinted his eyes as his head turned in her direction. Beth smiled warmly over at him and she crossed her toes that he didn't think that it was weird that she remembered his name considering the fact that they had only spoken to each other very briefly.

In all honesty, Beth didn't think that there was any woman on earth who would have been able to forget his name. But he wasn't arrogant at all - in fact, he was almost kind of _shy_ _-_ and if he knew the effect that he had on her, then he certainly didn't show it at all.

"Beth."

The corner's of his lips turned upwards ever so slightly and Beth was so happy that she noticed it, but she knew that she would have done because she couldn't help but take in everything about this man. His shorter hair allowed for her to get a better look at just how chiseled his jaw was and she bit her lip to help fight the grin that was threatening to spread across her face just at the sight of him being there.

Her eyes trailed over his appearance and she couldn't help it as her gaze lingered on his arms.

God, they were _huge._ He could probably crush her with those arms. No, he could _definitely_ crush her with those arms if he wanted to.

Instead of that thought being intimidating and deterring her interest towards him, it only seemed to excite her and the thought of his arms wrapped around her caused a sudden rush of heat to strike in her core. Beth had never felt attracted to another person in this way before - especially not a man, and especially not one that she barely even knew.

Beth opened her mouth to say something to him - _anything_ , she pleaded with herself, _so long as it isn't stupid_ \- but just before she got the chance to get any words out, her eyes were suddenly shooting downwards towards his hips as she noticed for the first time that Daryl wasn't alone. Beth's light eyes watched as a young girl strolled in her direction, confidence oozing from her as she squinted up at Beth.

It came back to her then - the fact that he had been shopping for his niece the other day. This must be her.

Upon her realisation, there was absolutely no doubt at all in Beth' mind that this young girl was in fact Daryl's niece, even though he had yet to confirm her suspicions. They weren't exactly the spitting image of each other, but some of their physical features were the same. Their eyes were two different shades of blue, hers much lighter than his - being a more similar colour to Beth's own whilst Daryl's were darker - but the shape of their eyes was the same. And the girl was clearly picking up on some of Daryl's traits because she even narrowed them at her the same way that he did. Her hair was the same mousy brown colour as his, but it was long; tumbling down her shoulders and her back in an unruly manner.

The girl was dressed in a school uniform and Beth instantly recognised it to be the one for the local elementary school. It was the same school that she had attended when she was little.

Beth's eyes darted back up to Daryl from where they had been locked on the young girl, and she couldn't help but smile at him. She probably looked like a fool, smiling like this all of the time - but whenever she was around him, she simply couldn't help it.

"I take it this is your niece," Beth said, gesturing with her hands to the girl who stood slightly in front of him, arms crossed over her chest almost defensively.

If Daryl was surprised or creeped out that she seemed to be remembering all of these things about him, he didn't look it. He just nodded at her and watched as she bent down a little at the waist towards the girl, edging ever so closer towards her. The girl had watched her Uncle nodding in confirmation at Beth and she seemed to accept that Beth was a friend quite easily.

"Hi there," Beth said with a smile. "What's your name, sweetie?"

The girl looked anything but unsure as she dropped her arms by her sides and pushed out her chest confidently, flashing a toothy grin at Beth.

"Ella," she said, and Beth almost laughed with glee at how much she sounded like Daryl.

Obviously, it had to be the accent and the accent alone, because Ella's voice was high and squeaky and very girlish whilst Daryl's was low and deep and typically masculine. But still, there was just something about the little girl's tone of voice that had Daryl's name written all over it.

"Well," Beth said, her eyes wide as she conversed with the child. "It's lovely to meet you, Ella. I'm Beth."

Beth pushed herself back upright and grinned at Daryl who was looking at her with an expression that she just couldn't place. Amusement? Confusion? Surprise? A mixture of all three? She wasn't sure.

Beth wondered if she would ever be able to read him better.

"How can I help you both?" Beth asked, and Ella spoke up before Daryl could even open his mouth, confirming Beth's thoughts that she was much more confident than her Uncle. Beth barely knew Daryl at all, but so far she had noticed how he was reluctant to talk much unless it was really absolutely necessary. He seemed to prefer communicating non-verbally but even at just six years old, Ella was evidently much bolder than her Uncle when it came to conversation - even with adults.

Beth couldn't help but wonder where she had got that from.

"Daryl forgot to get me some new underwear," Ella said matter-of-factly, and Beth swore that the tips of Daryl's ears were burning a furious shade of red at his niece's blunt explanation. Beth stifled a giggle out of sympathy for him and just raised one of her brows at the young girl.

"Did he really?" Beth asked, choking a little on the laughter that she was attempting to hold back.

Ella nodded her head up and down and opened her mouth to say something else back to Beth when an item in the store that was positioned behind the blonde seemed to catch her eye. Beth turned her head over her shoulder and looked in the direction of Ella's vision, immediately spotting the display of headbands that the little girl was eyeing up. Before Beth even got the chance to hear what Ella had to say in response, the girl was rushing past Beth and heading straight towards the selection of headbands - most of them made by Lori herself - and squealing with glee.

Beth turned her head back round to give Daryl her full attention once more and the man looked absolutely mortified as he stared straight past Beth and after his niece. Daryl visibly swallowed and Beth wanted to tell him that it wasn't that big of a deal, but she thought that her addressing the slightly awkward situation would probably make things even worse, so she decided not to say anything at all about it.

"So," she said as she rocked on her heels, glancing back at Ella quickly before turning back to Daryl. "Would you like me to just grab those... erm, grab those bits that you need for her? Save you the trouble?"

She was offering him a get-out-of-jail-free-card and Daryl seemed to appreciate it if his grunt and quick nod was anything to go by. Beth smiled at him reassuringly as he muttered a quick 'thanks' at her and she headed over towards the other end of the store where they displayed the range of children's basics. Daryl seemed to be frozen on the spot for a moment and went over to his niece briefly, mumbling something to her in his usual low tone and Beth wasn't able to catch what it was that he was saying to the girl. Beth began to sing along to the song playing through the speakers once again as she picked up a few packets of underwear in the correct age and in assorted colours.

Beth turned around and was just about to head back in Daryl's direction when she collided straight into his chest. She clung tightly to the packets of underwear, thinking briefly about just how much more horrified he would be about all of this if he had to help her pick up age six panties from all over the floor. Daryl gripped tightly to both of her elbows in an attempt to steady her, and the feel of his big hands holding on to her made her heart thrum quickly against her chest.

She breathed a quick 'thank you' to him under her breath and as soon as she was balancing on her own feet again, Daryl took a step back from her. Beth instantly missed his closeness.

"I was just going to ask you if you needed any vest or socks, too," Beth said as she handed over the packets to him. Daryl didn't even look at any of the things that she passed to him and just held them stiffly in his arms, his eyes locked on hers the whole time.

"Yeah," he said, looking at her with a blank face. "Yeah. I s'pose so."

Beth nodded her head and gave him one last looked before she turned around and grabbed a few more things that she thought that he would need. She couldn't help but sympathise with the man who was clearly struggling to keep up with everything that his niece needed. Her curiosity about his situation only continued to peak, but Beth continued to hold her tongue.

 _It isn't any of your business._

Beth carried the vests and socks towards the till where Daryl had placed the packets of underwear before she turned her attention to the man and his niece. Ella was still stood at the section where the headbands were and she was explaining something to her Uncle as she passed him another glittery accessory to add to the pile that was in his arms.

"Reckon you have enough?" Daryl asked, and Ella looked like she was debating it for a long moment before she nodded her head at him.

"Yeah," she said. "I reckon so."

Beth smiled as Daryl approached the till again; this time, with Ella in tow - and the young girl stood on her tiptoes to stare over the counter at Beth as she began to bag up the items and scan them through the till. Beth made polite small talk with Daryl as she bagged up the items, talking to him about how long and exhausting her day had been after spending most of her day at college and then coming straight to work.

XXXX

Beth smiled as he approached the till again - this time, with Ella in tow - and the young girl stood on her tiptoes to stare over the counter at Beth as she began to bag up the items and scan them through the till. Beth made polite small talk with Daryl as she bagged up the items, telling him all about how long her day had been after going to college in the morning and how quiet the store had been this evening - and then she was accepting the cash that he handed over to her and placed it in the register.

She collected his seven dollars as change and went to hand it over to him, but Daryl just shook his head as he picked up the bags in one swift movement. Beth smiled at him kindly and told him that he didn't have to tip her - after all, none of the other customers ever did. Beth never really expected tips in retail, anyway. It wasn't like she was working in some fancy department store, this was Lori's.

But Daryl refused to take the money and instead only accepted the receipt.

"Thank you," she told him sincerely as she slipped the change into her pocket. Daryl just nodded his head at her in acknowledgement before turning to face Ella.

"You sure you're done now?" he said, and Ella just nodded up at him.

"Yep," she said, frowning up at him before she questioned him. "You're still gettin' us a Chinese though, right, Daryl?"

Beth couldn't help but giggle at that and Ella turned to face the older girl, laughing a little bit herself. Daryl turned his head to face Beth, too, and he offered her a tiny smirk before he returned his attention back to his niece who was looking back up at him.

"Sure am," he told her, and Ella sighed loudly in relief before making her way towards the door. Beth followed from behind the counter, the keys in her hand ready to lock up for the night. Daryl looked in her direction and eyed up the keys in her hands. "You closin'?"

Beth nodded her head at him as he made his way out of the store.

"Sure am," she grinned as she rested against the door frame. Daryl glanced behind him at the empty parking lot and turned back towards her with narrowed eyes.

"You got a ride?" he asked, and Beth shook her head no, telling him that she was planning on getting the bus home. He looked a little bit unsure as he glanced between her and his car, rubbing the back of his neck. "Wanna hop in with us?"

Ella was looking up at her Uncle with a suspicious expression and Beth blinked a few times at him, her blue eyes wide in surprise.

"Err-"

"You don't have to," Daryl cut in suddenly, his expression changing quickly. "I jus' thought - you know what, it don't matter, I -"

It was probably more than she had ever heard Daryl say before, but she couldn't help but panic at the look of rejection that was painted across his face. Beth cut him off before he could say anything else, hoping that her hesitation - that was mostly due to the surprise of him offering her a ride mixed with not wanting to seem cheeky for accepting so quickly - hadn't blown this opportunity for her.

"No," Beth interrupted, shaking her head quickly. "No, I mean, yes. Yes, I would love to ride with you." Her cheeks blushed crimson quickly at her words. "I mean, a ride with you in your car. You know, home. I..." Beth cleared her throat. "If you don't mind, that is."

Beth was laughing a little as she spoke, feeling incredibly awkward with a little blush creeping up her cheeks. Daryl's eyes were narrowed at her again and he didn't look too certain of himself as he nodded his head once.

"Sure," he said. "Ain't a problem."

Beth smiled at him and tucked a stray piece of blonde hair behind her ears, pushing herself upright and getting ready to close the door.

"Okay. I'll be five minutes."

Daryl nodded his head at her before stepping back slightly, his blue eyes eventually tearing from hers as he turned around and walked towards his car, Ella walking a little ahead of him and talking loudly at him. Beth's stomach fluttered with excitement at the thought of Daryl giving her a ride home, but she tried her hardest to calm herself down.

 _He's just taking you home, Bethy._

 _It's not a big deal._


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for all of your positive words of encouragement so far! I don't want to rush this story at all, but at the same time I very much doubt that it will be a slow burn tale for Bethyl. Slow burn stories make me weep in frustration unless they're already complete or have a lot (and by a lot, I mean _a lot)_ of chapters up already, and since I have such a love/hate relationship with them as it is, I don't think that's the route that I'll take this story down. **

**I hope that makes sense, anyway.**

* * *

 _ **"If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?**_

 _ **If our love's insanity why are you my clarity?"**_

 _ **-**_ **'Clarity', Zedd**

* * *

Beth closed the store and checked over the amount of cash that was available as quickly as she could, not wanting to leave Daryl waiting on her too long. Her hands were unsteady as she counted out the notes but she tried not to think anything of it as she tucked the money away into a brown envelope and sealed it shut, but not before removing a twenty dollar bill for her wages. Beth hurried to grab her jacket and bag from where she had stored them in the back area and she made her way quickly towards the door.

She locked it with trembling hands and cursed under her breath for being so stupidly nervous. Beth knew that she was being silly, but her recognition didn't stop her heart from pounding in her ears as she made her way over to where Daryl was parked up not too far from the entrance of the store. She was certain that she could feel his eyes burning into her from inside of the car but she refused to make eye contact, her palms sweating as she opened up the door and slid into the passenger seat. She closed the door as softly as possible and placed her jacket and bag at her feet, offering Daryl and Ella a nervous smile when she had clicked in her seat belt.

"Thank you for this," she said to him as she turned to face him. Daryl just nodded his head at her before putting the car into gear.

"S'alright," he said to her, shrugging his shoulders a little as he pulled out of the lot. "Ordered a Chinese for us. I've gotta pick that up first. Y'mind?" Beth shook her head no and Daryl nodded again. "Alrigh'. You can jus' direct me after that."

Beth smiled at him and was about to try and find the words to say something else to him to start up a conversation, but before she got chance, Ella spoke up from where she was sat in the back seat directly behind Daryl.

The sensation of relief passed over Beth as the little girl began to interrogate her, asking her a series of questions that most people would probably deem far too personal. Beth was experienced with children and knew what to expect from them and over her years of training to be a teacher, she had quickly picked up a few skills to help her answer questions - even if they were a little bit awkward.

Daryl didn't seem to be much of a fan of small talk, and she couldn't help but feel as though her tongue was falling out of her mouth when she spoke to him. Beth just knew that it was only a matter of time before she said something stupid to him and made a fool of herself. When she spoke to Ella, she was much more calm and collected.

It probably had something to do with her intense attraction to the man who was driving her home, but she tried her best not to think too much on that the same way that she tried not to let her gaze linger too long on the way that his bare arms flexed as he turned the wheel of the car.

"Why don't you have a car, Beth?" Ella asked.

Beth turned her head to face the six year old in the back seat. The angle was a little awkward and a bit painful on her neck, but she smiled anyway.

She was so comfortable around children and found them much easier to deal with than adults. Daryl was very much an adult - definitely in his thirties, and Beth wondered whether that should bother her or not.

It didn't.

Beth couldn't help but be curious as to whether or not that bothered him. At twenty two, she wasn't exactly too young for Daryl, but she supposed that she was young enough and it definitely knocked her confidence when it came to interacting with him. Beth desperately didn't want him to see her as some silly little girl; but it had crossed her mind a few times that he probably was used to talking with women, not girls, and she was still stuck somewhere in between.

"I do," Beth told her, a smile playing on her lips. "I have an old truck. But my daddy's own truck broke down this mornin' an' he needed to borrow mine, so I had to get the bus to college an' then to work."

Ella nodded at that and accepted her answer easily enough.

"My daddy don't have a truck," Ella said, and Beth noticed Daryl immediately stiffen from the corner of her eye. His hands seem to grip a little harder to the steering wheel and his jaw locked tight as he pulled out onto one of the main roads of the town.

Beth felt a little awkward at the mention of Ella's father, but she tried not to show it. She casually tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear (it was a nervous habit) as she continued to smile warmly at Ella. The little girl didn't seem to pick up on her Uncle's tension whatsoever and Beth wondered whether she got herself into trouble with him like this often.

"Does he not?" Beth asked. Ella opened her mouth to say something back to the question, but Beth quickly carried on speaking, hoping to distract her. "My daddy has one truck of his own, the truck he gave to me, and one tractor."

Ella's blue eyes gleamed at the new topic of conversation and Beth was glad for it. She was pretty certain that Daryl was going to snap the steering wheel into tiny pieces if he gripped at it any harder than he already was.

"A _tractor_?" Ella asked, emphasising the word dramatically, and Beth nodded her head quickly.

"Yep," she said, popping the 'p' and trying hard not to smile. "We live on a farm."

Daryl mumbled something under his breath that very much sounded like ' _here we go_ ', but Beth couldn't be sure. She was slightly confused at his tone until she spotted the way that Ella's eyes widened impossibly and it was near enough impossible to explain how they weren't bulging out of her eye sockets. The little girl was grinning now and leaning her body forward so that she could get closer to where Beth was sat in the front seat, even though their faces were hardly far apart.

"Do ya have animals?" Beth nodded her head at Ella's question. Ella looked thoughtful for a few seconds before her grin widened. "What _sorta_ animals?"

Beth had to think about that for a moment.

"Well," she began, ticking off all of the animals in her mind. "We have cows and horses. We have some sheep, too, an' in the spring they'll have their lambs. We've got some chickens and roosters - but those can be real mean - an' some ducks, too. But the ducks; they're not technically _our_ animals. They jus' sorta... live there on the farm."

Ella looked absolutely enthralled and Beth continued talking, still relieved to have changed the topic of conversation from Ella's father and the fact that he didn't have a truck like Beth's did.

"There's some owls that live in the barn, too, an' they like to eat any mice that they can find on the fields. We have two cats that were strays, an' my daddy jus' recently got a sheepdog, too. He used to be a vet, an' he still has a lot of the equipment at the farmhouse, so he's always takin' in strays."

The little girl gasped as Beth spoke and giggled gleefully when she finally stopped talking.

"There's a farm near our house," Ella said, and Beth smiled. "Daryl's friend says that I'll be able t'see the horses an' the sheep from my window. I _love_ horses."

Beth glanced over at Daryl who looked as though he had relaxed now. She supposed that he too was relieved that the conversation had drifted away from Ella's father. Beth was still curious about the whole situation there, but as always, she reminded herself that it wasn't any of her business.

Still, she couldn't help but wonder whether Daryl would ever tell her more about himself and his niece.

Daryl was mysterious and hadn't given her much to go on. Granted, he didn't know much about her, either. But Beth could already tell that where she was open, he was closed off and reserved. He wasn't like some of the other boys that she knew; like Jimmy or Zach or Noah, all of whom loved the sound of their own voices a little too much.

The fact that Daryl was very much a man whilst they were very much boys struck her quickly and the thought made her stomach flutter in the nicest of ways. Beth had never been much of a fan of boys her own age; usually entertaining the idea of them for a while and although she never struck any of them down when they asked her on dates, they never brought out the feelings in her that Daryl did. None of the boys she had dated before were anything like Daryl - they didn't bring such an overwhelming sense of desire over her and they also didn't cause her to feel so happy and excited and nervous and jittery and girlish all at once.

She couldn't help but feel ridiculous for it and reminded herself once again that she barely knew this man whatsoever. Her mama would probably scold her for getting a ride from him if she found out that all she knew about him was his name and that he was new in town. But no matter how much she tried to reason with herself about how she really shouldn't be feeling this way for a person she didn't even know anything about, nothing could seem to stop her heart from pounding and her hands from sweating and her fingers from fidgeting with her hair.

Around Daryl, Beth quickly found that she couldn't help but be all kinds of nervous and self-conscious.

Maybe he felt the same, too.

"S'my landlord," Daryl said, glancing over to Beth before he pulled in to an empty space outside of the best - and only - Chinese take away in town.

Beth looked blankly at him, surprised to hear the sound of his voice, and felt like an idiot when he cleared his throat and explained himself more to her, looking a little bit sheepish as he did. Beth couldn't help but wonder why he would be the one feeling awkward right now. After all, she was the one who had been daydreaming and not paying attention.

"The friend that told her that, 'bout the horses from her window." Beth's eyes widened and understanding graced her features. "She means the landlord. Dale."

She was about to ask him more about his landlord because Beth knew someone called Dale, too - a white haired man his sixties who was a good friend of her father's and always seemed kind and friendly. But before she could say anything to him about it, Daryl had climbed out of the car and had shut the door behind him.

Ella continued to chatter on from the backseat about the farm animals and Beth entertained the girl as much as she possibly could until Daryl returned, his eyes narrowing suspiciously towards Ella as Beth took the two big bags of food from him, placing them carefully at her feet next to her jacket and bag. It was a bit of a squeeze, but she was small enough that it didn't really matter.

"She been alright?" Daryl asked, and Beth wanted to remind him that he wasn't gone for longer than five minutes, but she quickly stopped herself. She didn't want to ridicule him for worrying about his niece. It was actually kind of sweet for him to.

Besides, she was beginning to see why Daryl might worry about her just a little bit. Maybe not about whether or not she would be hurt or injured or that she would kick up a fuss, but it was more likely that Daryl would worry about the things she might say about herself or her Uncle, or even her father and the situation there.

Beth had quickly picked up on the fact that Ella was definitely not as reserved as Daryl.

 _Not in the slightest._

Beth opened her mouth to reassure him, but Ella was speaking up from the backseat before she had the opportunity to. Beth couldn't help but smile at the sound of her voice.

"Daryl, guess what?" she asked, and before Daryl could even attempt to guess anything, she was speaking again. "Beth said that I can come to the farm one day an' see the animals!"

Daryl glanced at Beth as he pulled the belt over his chest, a questioning look on his face, and Beth just shrugged her shoulders at him and smiled nervously. Daryl smirked a little at her before he put the car into gear and set off through town again.

"Did she now?" he asked, his blue eyes meeting hers again as he relaxed into his seat. Ella made an 'mm-hmm' noise and Beth couldn't help but giggle at the sound. She suddenly felt very light headed under his gaze and couldn't stop herself from smiling and laughing.

Daryl picked up on her directions easily enough and Ella pointed out where they lived. Beth couldn't see the apartments because they were too far down the road that Ella had signaled towards, but she knew them well enough because one of her friends from school, Tara, lived in one. Beth never really saw much of Tara anymore, but she told Daryl and Ella that her friend lived there anyway. Ella continued to yap away excitedly and said that maybe that would mean that they would see each other more so that she didn't have to go and visit her in Lori's store whilst Beth just laughed and nodded her head in agreement.

Beth wanted to tell Ella that the farm land that she could see out of her window belonged to her daddy, but she didn't get the opportunity to because Ella was speaking again - this time telling Beth all about the elementary school she was now attending and the friends that she was making there.

It didn't take much longer for Daryl to pull up outside of the farm and for the first time throughout the whole journey, Ella was quiet as she gazed up at the house. Beth supposed that it was pretty - a typical white farmhouse with a dirt road that you had to drive up for a few minutes before you reached the doorstep because it was set right in the middle of the land. You could see the stables from where Daryl had parked not too far from the porch steps and you could also see the barn where the chickens and the roosters were housed.

Beth gave Ella a small smile and insisted once again that she just had to come by some time so that she could meet her horse, Nellie. Ella had seemed thrilled at the idea and slightly in awe of the fact that Beth had her own horse, nodding her head up and down in agreement but not actually saying anything.

Her little face said it all.

Daryl un-clipped his belt and told Ella to stay put whilst he walked Beth to the door. The little girl just nodded up at him with big eyes as he opened up his door and stepped out onto the ground, Beth mimicking him after she had said goodbye to Ella. Her heart was pounding in her chest again as Daryl walked around the car and followed Beth to the porch, stopping at the bottom step as Beth hopped up the rest of them that led up to the farmhouse.

Beth turned around to look at him and she sighed inwardly.

 _What a sight he was._

Beth would have invited him in for a drink had he not needed to get his niece home and feed her, and she told him so, too. Daryl just shrugged his shoulders and Beth beamed at him even though she was somewhat sad to see him go. Daryl took a few steps towards the car, walking backwards so that he was facing her from where she stood outside of the front door.

"Thanks for the ride, Daryl," she said. "I guess I'll see you around?" she called after him as he made his way towards the car.

He opened up the door and Beth noticed that Ella had ignored her Uncle's instruction to stay put and had moved herself into the front passenger seat where Beth had been sat only a few short minutes ago. Daryl looked at Beth from where he was stood at the car for a long moment, his eyes narrowed slightly whilst his elbow rested on the car roof.

Beth swallowed and stayed still as his gaze trailed over her before he nodded his head at her question before he went to slide into the drivers seat. Beth offered them both a little wave and sighed longingly as she watched the car disappear down the dirt road. She didn't make an attempt to move inside until Daryl turned away from the farm and the car was long gone from her sights.

It wasn't a feeling that she was all too familiar with, but Beth wished that she was still in that car with Daryl, accompanying him and his young niece to their apartment and sitting with them to eat dinner.

As she stared into the distance, Beth couldn't help but wonder about what Daryl thought of her, too. Did he think that she was pretty? Did he like how long her hair was, or did he think that she needed to cut it shorter? Did he like her slender frame or did he prefer women to be fuller, with wider hips and bigger breasts? Did he like how she didn't bother wearing much make up most days, or did he think that she could use a little more?

Was he driving away right now, glancing back at the farm through his mirror and wishing that she was joining him and Ella for dinner, too?

The questions were ridiculous and Beth knew it. Daryl probably wasn't interested in her in the slightest, and for all she knew, he could easily have a girlfriend at home that he lived with. He hadn't mentioned anyone and Beth _had_ noticed that there was no ring on his finger, plus Ella hadn't said anything, either; but that didn't mean that he was single. She told herself that she couldn't just assume that he was.

Still, regardless of whether he was interested in her or whether he was even single or not, Beth knew that there was nothing she could do about it all now.

Her mama had always told her that the heart wants what it wants; and it just so happens that hers wants Daryl Dixon.

* * *

 **Referring back to what I said about this story not being slow-burn: I hope it's not too much too soon that Beth is this smitten with Daryl. I said in 'Only One' that I see Beth as being the dreamer whilst I see Daryl as being the realist and my opinion on that is very much still the same. Plus I don't think that it's too far fetched because I think if Daryl Dixon gave _me_ a ride home, I would definitely be more than just head over heels. **

**But hey, that's just me. (Even though I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of you would feel the same, if not stronger). Still, I hope it's not seeming like I'm rushing things for this couple. Beth won't have her way with Daryl just yet, anyway.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I want to say that writing these Bethyl fics is my guilty pleasure, but I'm not even feeling guilty. Not one bit.**

 **Hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

 _ **"I'll let you set the pace, 'cause I'm not thinking straight**_

 _ **My head's spinning around, I can't see clear no more**_

 _ **What are you waiting for?"**_

 _ **\- '**_ **Love Me Like You Do', Ellie Goulding**

* * *

It had been just over a week since Daryl had dropped her off at the farm once her shift at work had finished, and he was still yet to see Beth Greene again.

Daryl had thought of her a lot more than he would initially like to admit - even to himself - and he wasn't sure exactly why he couldn't shake her. But then again, he wasn't such about much at all when it came to her. Beth was as confusing as she was gorgeous and Daryl didn't have a clue what was coming over him.

 _If only Merle could see him now._

 _"Whipped"_ is probably the first thing that his older brother would call him, and that was embarrassing enough because Daryl didn't even know the girl. He didn't know much about her; just her name and that she worked at Lori's and that she was studying at college - teaching or childcare, he thought she had said - and that she lived on her daddy's big farm not too far from the apartment complex.

It hadn't taken Daryl long to realise that the farm that Beth lived on was also the farm that Dale had suggested he work at because the owner could really do with some help. If not for his common sense, then because there was a large 'help wanted' sign at the bottom of the dirt path that led up to the farmhouse and Daryl couldn't miss it, not even if he tried.

Ella proved to be a good distraction, as did work. As much as Daryl would have probably enjoyed working on the farm (especially if it meant that he would get to see more of Beth), he couldn't stomach the thought of taunting himself with her presence like that. After all, girls like her didn't go for guys like him and there was no point dragging the whole thing out and making it worse for himself by not leaving her be.

 _Beth probably had a boyfriend anyway._

So that was how Daryl ended up giving Cesar Martinez a call. Martinez owned two local businesses; a garage and a 'handy-man' agency (at least, that's what Martinez referred to the place as) where he employed men of all trades. Mostly plumbers and welders and electricians. There were only about three or four men for each profession and the agency was the only one of its kind in the town, but that was all that was really needed to keep the town running.

Daryl was the newest member of the electrician team and he had adjusted to the role quite easily, according to his boss. Granted, he didn't have any qualifications in the trade - didn't have many qualifications at all - and he had been straight up and honest with Martinez about that. But he did have experience since he had dabbled in the field for a while a few years ago, and Cesar had seemed outright impressed with his work so far, so that had to count for something.

The pay was alright. It wasn't great, but it was enough for Daryl and it was enough for his niece. It covered the cost of their rent and their food and then a little bit extra, too. Daryl was trying to save some money for himself so that he didn't have to rent anymore and could give Ella a more stable home to live in, but it was proving to be pretty difficult when she needed all sorts of new shit all of the time.

That little girl was his main focus right now and Daryl refused to let himself get distracted with anything else. Martinez was understanding enough with the situation he was in, even if Daryl had only briefly told him about it (more the things that were need-to-know over anything else). Martinez had two children with his ex-wife Andrea, and despite having gone through a divorce, the two were on pretty decent terms. Martinez's daughter was in the same grade as Ella at the school and he must have mentioned something to Andrea about it because then he had come back to him on his second shift and told him that Andrea had offered to start picking Ella up for him with their daughter.

The agreement was that so long as Daryl came and picked Ella up as soon as he clocked off work, then Andrea would happily have her. At first, he had been anything but comfortable with the idea - he sure as hell didn't want no charity or sympathy from anyone in this town - but he did need the help, and he didn't know anyone else who would be able to look after Ella for him until he finished work, so he agreed to it.

So far, the routine was going well.

He picked up Ella from Andrea's house - where Martinez always seemed to be, no matter what - and the little girl was always thrilled to see him. Andrea was friendly enough and Daryl thought that she seemed alright, but he never really said much to her - just thanked her for having Ella for him and double checked whether she wanted any money for the trouble. Andrea kept declining Daryl's offer of money, telling him that Ella was easy enough and besides, she was doing a favour for Martinez.

How exactly she was doing the favour for his boss, Daryl wasn't sure. He supposed that if Andrea didn't have Ella every evening then he would probably have to finish work a little bit earlier to pick her up, but he wouldn't have thought Martinez needed him for two more hours a day desperately. Still, Daryl didn't think too much into it and just shrugged his shoulders before carrying Ella out to the car, listening intently as she told him all about her day.

Since their arrival in town, Ella had only asked for her daddy once. Daryl thought that it was a good sign because she wasn't crying anymore.

Daryl just wished that he could tell her everything and that she could understand it but she couldn't understand and he wouldn't tell her everything - not for a long time, anyway. So he just dealt with it as best he could. His niece preoccupied his mind a lot and he was thankful that she was beginning to settle in with life in the little town. She was coping well with the relocation and took to the change from the city scenery much easier than he did, but he put that down to her age combined with the fact that in all honesty, Ella was a good kid.

He had a feeling she would settle in and make friends wherever he took her to. Still, he couldn't help but worry about how she was doing.

And it was worrying about how his niece was coping with everything that consumed his mind more than anything and in doing so, often distracted him from what he was meant to be doing.

Like looking where he was going as he pushed his cart around the aisles of the supermarket, his eyes scanning across the shelves for anything he might need at home. Daryl wasn't the best cook, but Ella didn't seem to mind any of what he gave her, so that was a plus. The supermarket was the only one of it's kind in his town and wasn't all too super, either - pretty small with only ten or twelve aisles, but all of the produce was local so Daryl thought that was pretty good.

He really should have been paying more attention to where he was pushing his cart around the supermarket and shouldn't have just been pulling things from the shelves absent mindedly. Daryl had asked his niece earlier that morning whether there was anything she wanted from the store, and he regretted the decision not to wait until after she had been picked up from school this afternoon because there were so many damned things that she had asked him to get for her, and he sure as hell couldn't remember them all. His dumb ass hadn't even remembered to write them down, so Daryl was struggling and scouting out each aisle in the hopes of reminding himself of what it was she had asked for.

Still, he knew he would forget something no matter what. But knowing his luck, it would be something that Ella really wanted. He supposed he could always just bring her back with him later on if he did forget anything, but he really didn't want to be so useless for her. He was supposed to be taking care of her - how was he supposed to do that when he couldn't even remember what she wanted to eat?

So occupied in his own self-doubt, Daryl (still) wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings. It wasn't like him at all and he had been doing so well with maneuvering his way around other folk in the store, but he had obviously grown too confident with his ability not to look where he was walking and ended up crashing his cart straight into someone else's.

"Oh!"

The carts crashed together with a loud _clang_ that hurt his ears and the sound almost caused him to jump in surprise, but he managed to catch himself before he did. He was Daryl Dixon, for fucks sake - he didn't go around jumping in supermarket's because he was clumsy and had been consumed in his own mind.

Daryl couldn't help but briefly think of Merle again.

 _The things that his brother would do and say if he knew how soft he was really becoming..._

"Daryl!"

Her voice was familiar and it had been floating around his mind for over a week now, but it sounded so much better to hear her in person. His blue eyes shot up to meet hers quickly, his cheeks tainted a little red from embarrassment by the way that he had crashed his cart in the first place. He quickly burned a darker colour when he realised who it was that he had rammed into.

But despite the circumstances, Beth was smiling at him - no, _beaming_ at him - and she looked so damn happy to see him stood there. Daryl couldn't do much other than look at her with a blank expression on his face. He knew that this was a small town and all, and he had known that he would run into her _sometime_...

He had just hoped that it wouldn't have happened at his embarrassing expense.

"Hey, Beth."

Wow. _That was lame._

So, so lame, and Daryl wished that Merle was here to punch him in the face and bring him back down to Earth. " _Hey, Beth"_? Who even said that? What was he, some preteen loser tripping over some cheerleader who he didn't have a chance with?

Daryl supposed he may as well have been. But then he quickly decided that a preteen loser would probably have more charm and know-how when it came to the opposite sex than he did.

So all in all, he supposed that he was even more worse off than he had originally thought.

Daryl was a mess and it was all because of this damned blonde who probably didn't even weigh one hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet. Beth was a tiny thing - had to be five foot one or two at most - and she had the sweetest smile and singing voice that he had ever seen or heard. Still, she absolutely terrified him like no other had ever done - not even his pa.

And that was saying something.

Despite Daryl feeling like a complete idiot for the dumbass greeting that really wasn't him at all, Beth just smiled happily at him like he had just given her the best compliment in the world.

"Fancy seein' you here," she said. "Not that it's not the only supermarket in town at all."

Beth was laughing a little bit now and Daryl couldn't help but smirk a little bit at her tone. He guessed that her teasing meant that it wasn't so bad after all. Beth could have just brushed right past him and ignored him, but she hadn't.

 _Yet._ Merle's voice was ringing in his ears again now, but he tried to snap out of it so that he could listen to her properly.

"How are you?" she asked as she pulled her cart away from where it was stuck against his and straightened it up.

Beth had turned around so that her cart was facing in the same direction that his was, pointing down the end of the aisle, and she bent over into the trolley to adjust the position of one of her large bottles of soda which had fallen onto its side. Beth pulled it upright and Daryl groaned inwardly at the sight of her bent over the cart, wiggling a little as she struggled to reach the bottle on her first attempt.

 _Fuck._ She had to know what she was doing.

Was she trying to kill him? Maybe.

No, scratch that, _definitely_. The way that she was moving her hips and then turned round and gave him a little breathless laugh solidified it in his mind. Beth Greene definitely knew what she was doing and she was definitely trying to give him a heart attack.

"M'alright," Daryl managed to choke out, his mouth suddenly very dry as he tried to make it less obvious that he had been staring at her. "You?"

Beth shrugged her shoulders.

"Not so bad," she told him, tucking a piece of her wild hair behind her ears. It was the first time he had seen her wearing it up and it suited her pretty face. It was a sloppy attempt - almost as sloppy as his attempts at doing Ella's hair - but it looked good on her.

Daryl got the sudden urge to tug at the small braid that ran through the length of it.

"I'm just shoppin' for mama and daddy. We were all out of coffee..." Beth trailed off as they both peered into her cart which was almost filled to the brim. Her blue eyes darted over to his and she broke out into a wide grin. "Guess I went a little over board, huh?"

Daryl made a sound at the back of his throat to agree with her and Beth seemed to be pleased with that, giggling to herself. She cheekily glanced into his cart and raised a brow at the amount of candy and chocolate that littered it.

"Don't judge," he said, though his tone was playful. She seemed to understand that he was teasing and giggled even more.

"Don't worry, I won't," she said. "Got a sweet tooth myself."

The grin on her face told him that she knew that it wasn't all for him, but he responded anyway with a snort.

"Ain't for me, girl," he said, and Beth cocked a brow at that.

"Don't worry," she told him, lowering her voice a little and leaning closer towards him. "It's our little secret."

Beth was grinning again and Daryl just rolled his eyes, pulling his cart a little out of her way as he set off down the aisle again. He couldn't help but feel disappointed at knowing that he had to go, but he couldn't exactly stand around in the middle of the supermarket and talk with her all day.

 _Could he?_

"I'll see ya around, Greene," Daryl managed to get out as he walked past her.

It took her a beat, but then Beth followed closely behind him.

"I'm sure you will," she said. "You know, you still need to bring Ella down to the farm sometime."

Daryl was about to turn left where she was turning right and he craned his head over his shoulder, looking at her with slightly narrowed eyes before he nodded his head.

"How about this weekend?" Beth said, watching him carefully.

Daryl was a little caught off guard by her proposal, half expecting her not to really mean it. She took his surprise the wrong way and immediately started talking again, blue eyes wide and her cheeks flushed pink. "Or not. Maybe next weekend instead? Or even the one after. There's no rush, really."

Daryl shook his head and snapped himself back to reality, cutting her off from her rambling.

"No," he said, closing his eyes for a second. "No, it's alright. This weekend sounds good."

Beth was grinning at him again and he couldn't help but return the smile.

"Okay," she said, rummaging in her pocket briefly before she pulled out her phone and edged a little closer to him, her hand outstretched with the device. "Here. Give me your number and I'll text you so that you have mine."

Daryl took the phone from her hands cautiously but didn't make a move to tap in his number straight away. He could have sworn that he saw her blush slightly and she dipped her head, the phone in his hands suddenly seeming very interesting.

"Then you can... You know, give me a call and we'll sort it out properly."

He looked at Beth for another long moment before he eventually nodded at her and quickly keyed in his number. Beth smiled at him again, this time seeming a lot more nervous, before she slipped the phone back in her pocket.

"Okay then," she said as she zipped the pocket of her jacket back up again. "I guess I'll see you this weekend, then."

"Yeah," Daryl said, turning his attention back to his shopping cart and reminding himself that he really couldn't stay and chat to Beth Greene all day. It struck him then that he had never really wanted to stand and chat idly to anyone before, but now he was almost regretting the fact that he had to finish up shopping and go and pick Ella up from the elementary school.

Even if he never really said much to her, it always seemed to be more than he said to anyone else, and Daryl wondered if she knew about the effect she had on him.

"I'll see you this weekend."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello lovely people!**

 **Okay, first of all I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far - I love hearing from you all and your reviews make me smile so much. Thanks for taking the time to give me your feedback, I really appreciate it, and I'm glad everyone seems to be enjoying this story so far.**

 **Secondly, I wanted to let you all know that I've gone back and re-written the first five chapters of this story. I was happy with them at first but I just thought that upon reflection I could do a better job, and it's the first three in particular that I've added a** _ **lot**_ **more detail to. Fair enough if you don't want to read them and I don't think you'll necessarily miss much, but they do give a much better insight into the minds of the character's in this story and I think that the story is a lot smoother now that I've edited them, so yeah.**

 **Thirdly, I would appreciate it - for those of you who do re-read the chapters - if you would just let me know what you think of the new and improved versions of them.**

 **Sorry for the awfully long AN. I think that's everything. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

 _ **"I tell myself you don't mean a thing, and what we got, got no hold on me,**_

 _ **But when you're not there, I just crumble.**_

 _ **I tell myself I don't care that much, but I feel like I die 'til I feel your touch.**_

 _ **Only love, only love can hurt like this."**_

 _ **-**_ **'Only Love Can Hurt Like This, Paloma Faith**

* * *

The days seemed to pass by her at a painfully slow pace, and by the time that Friday rolled around, Beth was still to hear from Daryl about their plans. He had sent her a text message a few days before, but it was only in response to a message that she had sent him. He acknowledged that he had her number and that he would be in touch about this weekend, but she had heard absolutely nothing from him. She tried to shake the feeling of disappointment that crept up and lingered within her chest as a result of his silence, but the feeling was basically impossible to ignore.

Beth was being ridiculous and she knew it.

She was being childish and stupid, but she couldn't help it. It wasn't just that she was attracted to Daryl - because she had been attracted to others before him - but she had honestly believed that there might be something _there_ between them that had the potential to grow into something more.

What exactly that 'something' was, she still didn't know, even after days and days of contemplating it. Because after all, the two hardly knew each other whatsoever.

They were still strangers; hardly able to class each other as friends or anything of the sort, but Beth still felt connected to him in an overwhelming way. She wasn't sure what it was exactly that was drawing her towards him and she hadn't been expecting it, either. But no matter which way that she looked at it, there really was just something about Daryl Dixon and she wanted to at least have a chance to get to know him better.

She was beginning to think that it was pretty obvious that he didn't feel the same about her due to his lack of effort. Beth had even responded to his text, accepting that it was pretty short and sweet, simple and straight to the point and not because he was rude, but because that was just him. Daryl and Beth may have still basically been strangers but she knew enough about him from their few interactions so far to know that he was definitely not one for idle chit chat and talking about nothing in particular, and she expected nothing more of him over text.

But she had replied telling him that she looked forward to his call, and now she was kicking herself for it because she had probably gone and scared him off. He definitely thought that she was some silly little girl who was quickly starting to obsess over him and he had ran a mile. Hell, he had probably even left town because she had creeped him out hat much.

 _What had she been expecting, anyway?_

Beth wasn't exactly sure. She shouldn't have felt upset about the fact that he hadn't bothered to make plans like he said he would because she really did barely know him, but she did and she couldn't exactly change the way that she felt, even if she wanted to. Beth had debated confiding in Maggie about it and asking her for some advice on what to do, but her older sister was far too caught up in her own life and her fiance Glenn to really give a crap about something so silly as Daryl not calling her.

Beth had Friday's off from college and busied herself with college work and assignments throughout the morning. Her daddy hovered in her doorway around lunchtime to ask if she wanted to join him and her mother for something to eat, and Beth knew that logically, it was impossible for either of her parents to know what was going on in her private life: after all, nobody even knew who Daryl was, and she hadn't confided in either of them about him as of yet.

But they were tiptoeing around her and although they were usually kind and gentle with her, they were being _exceptionally_ so today. Beth couldn't help but feel a little bit paranoid about that, her mind going into overdrive at the possibilities.

Was it written all over her face? The disappointment, the want, the hurt? Was it so obvious that she felt deflated and let down? Could her mama and daddy see right through her as though they had developed some form of x-ray vision straight through her bones and instead into her soul, tapping in to her emotions and picking up on the raw sense of rejection that had painted over her?

She just nodded her head at her daddy and told him that she would follow him down in a minute and finished off the conclusion of her assignment before shutting the lid to her laptop and pushing herself away from the desk that was in her room. She bounded down the stairs and joined her parents at the dining table, pouring a glass of iced lemonade for them all and tucking into her food immediately.

Beth had skipped breakfast that morning and was only just realising just how hungry she really was.

"Don't you think so, Bethy?"

The sound of her mama's voice floating from across the table snapped Beth back into reality. She had been caught daydreaming and felt incredibly guilty as she shook her head a little, her blue eyes wide and lips slightly parted as she stared straight at her mother in confusion. She cursed herself for not paying more attention because she didn't have the slightest idea about what her mother had been asking her.

 _Well,_ she thought, _if it wasn't obvious before, it definitely is now._

"Something wrong, sweetheart?"

Beth shook her head at her father's question and looked down at the table cloth, studying it for a long few seconds as she tried her best to hide away from the suspicious eyes of her parents. Beth cleared her throat and tucked a stray piece of blonde hair behind her ear before taking another bite of chicken and prolonged the process of chewing.

Annette started talking again and telling her husband and daughter all about the meeting that she had attended at Church that weekend. Beth tried to concentrate on her mother's words this time so that she wasn't caught off guard once again, and she also tried to ignore the confused glances that both of her parents were throwing each other over her behaviour.

 _What was Daryl Dixon doing to her?_

* * *

"Any plans for this evening?" Lori asked as Beth counted the cash out of the register and kept a twenty dollar bill for herself. She shook her head at the older woman, nibbling on her lip as she concentrated on counting the money correctly.

"'Fraid not," she said once she had slipped it into a brown envelope and handed the amount over to Lori, who took it with a grateful smile. "I have some work due in next week, so I'm gonna go over it all and double check it's right before I send it off."

Lori nodded her head up and down at that.

"Bet you can't wait to finish, huh?" Lori said as she slipped on her leather jacket, and Beth grinned at her as she nodded her head up and down before she excused herself to grab her coat and denim jacket from the back area. Lori glanced over the store once more, checking that everything was definitely in place before the girls shut the store for the night.

"Got everything?" she double checked, and Beth glanced in her bag and made sure that her purse, phone and car keys were safely tucked in there. There had been plenty of occasions where one of them had left something in the store that they really needed, so whenever they worked together they made sure to remind each other to take everything that they needed.

Beth nodded at Lori and Lori locked the doors to the shop, a satisfied smile on her face as she plopped the keys into her handbag. Beth told her that she would see her on Monday and Lori nodded at her encouragingly, waving enthusiastically as Beth trotted over towards her truck.

She hadn't asked Lori whether she had any plans for herself that evening and she didn't say anything to Lori about the fact that Shane was picking her up from the store, either. Beth tried to shrug off the bad feeling that she had in the pit of her stomach as she watched Lori slide into Shane's car and the look that she saw on his face was enough to make her want to gag. She shook her head and reversed out of the lot, turning in the opposite direction that Shane did and heading straight for the farm.

It wasn't too late when she got home and her mama had saved her some leftovers from dinner, placing it in the oven to keep it warm. Beth removed the plate and tucked straight into her meal, only then checking her phone to see if she had any messages.

Of course she had been hoping that Daryl would have called her whilst she was at work. After all, she wasn't able to forget about him that easily. And Beth couldn't help but grin like the cat who got the cream when she saw the notification.

 _One missed call: Daryl Dixon._

Beth wanted to laugh and scream and whoop, but she settled on grinning as she picked up the phone in both of her hands and stared down at the screen for a few seconds. Was this real, or was she daydreaming again? Had Daryl actually called her?

She bit down on her lip before calling him back, tucking into some mashed potato whilst the phone dialled. He answered the call right when she was about to hang up and Beth had been frowning because she thought that he wasn't going to answer, but she was quickly smiling again at the sound of him.

"Hello?" he said, his voice questioning, and Beth's shoulders sagged in relief.

"Hey," Beth said, probably sounding way too chipper and excited. She cleared her throat a little awkwardly and quickly lowered her voice. "Hey. It's me."

 _God, this is awkward._ _What if he doesn't remember who I am?_

"Beth."

Apparently, Daryl remembered who she was and he chuckled when she said her name. If he was laughing, that had to be a good sign, surely?

"I know who y'are," he said, and Beth was glad that he couldn't see her right now, because she was blushing furiously.

"Oh," was all she managed to get out, suddenly forgetting most of the English language. There was a long beat of silence that seemed to go on for forever, when in reality it was only for a few seconds, before she spoke again. "So, I, erm... You called? I missed your call."

"Yeah," Daryl said, sounding just as awkward as she felt. "I said I was gonna. About the farm? An' Ella?"

Beth nodded her head, forgetting that he couldn't see her.

"Sure," she said, although her voice sounded more than a little bit unsure. "When were you thinking of comin' down? I'm free whenever."

Daryl must have pulled the phone away from his ear because he was talking, but his voice was more muffled, and she realised that he wasn't addressing her. Beth heard the sound of Ella's high pitched voice in the background and she couldn't help but smile.

"Sorry," he said. "Ella's whinin' for her dinner. Kid's eatin' me outta house an' home." Beth laughed at that, starting to feel a little bit more comfortable with the man on the other end of the line. "We could always drop by tomorrow," he said.

"Tomorrow's fine," Beth said. "What time were you thinkin'?"

"'Round tweleve-ish? Gives me 'nough time to get her outta bed and ready."

"Of course," Beth said, nodding her head again. "That sounds perfect."

"Kay. Guess I'll see you t'morrow, then."

"Yeah," Beth sighed, not meaning to. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Daryl cut off the call and she just stared blankly at the phone in her hand for a moment before a smile played on her lips again. It was ridiculous how much of an affect he had on her and Beth wondered whether he knew that all day she had felt defeated and disappointed because he hadn't called, and now that they had spoken for what had to be no more than five minutes, she was suddenly feeling excited and happy rushed to eat her dinner so that she could get a shower before bed, wanting to straighten her hair ready for the morning so that she wasn't rushing around when he arrived.

It was the second time that day that she thought on about him and the way that he seemed to ignite these sorts of emotions from her that she wasn't all too familiar with.

 _Really, what was Daryl Dixon doing to her?_

* * *

 **Thank you for reading and please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

_**"Let me hold your heart, show me where to start,**_

 _ **It's amazing how you shine in the dark."**_

 **\- 'Jupiter Love', Trey Songz**

* * *

"It's _not_ a big deal," Beth said, her face calm and her head held up strong.

Annette raised her eyebrows and smirked a little at her daughter, but she didn't argue the point; instead just nodding her head slowly, watching as Beth's stiff posture relaxed when she didn't push any further on the matter. Her mother had known that something was different about Beth for a while now and had been asking her daughter for days to tell her what was going on. Beth had played stupid for the most part, not wanting to gush to her mother about her handsome new friend - _was Daryl a friend?_ \- in case nothing came of it and she just ended up looking like an idiot who fell for the first person who looked in her direction.

In all honesty, Beth was relieved that she had finally been able to tell her mother about Daryl. Annette had welcomed herself into Beth's room with a tray of breakfast for her, stating that she wanted to cheer her daughter up because she had seemed so glum and distant just the day before. But her mother was shocked and relieved to find Beth sat at her little vanity table, already wide awake and combing through her hair. She had informed her that a friend was coming to visit the farm with his young niece and that she would be busy with him for most of the day, hence why she was awake and getting ready.

* * *

 _"And this friend of yours..." Annette said as she placed the tray of food down in front of Beth. Beth took a sip of the orange juice, her blue eyes peering over the glass at her suspicious mother whilst she drank. "I'm right in assuming that they're a boy?"_

 _Beth frowned at that, but nodded her head._

 _"Well, sort of," she said, settling the glass back down on the tray._

 _That caught her mother's attention._

 _"What do you mean, 'sort of'?"_

 _Beth could have laughed at her shocked and confused tone, a look of horror evident on her face._

 _Her parents had always been a little old-fashioned._

 _"I mean that he's more of a man than a boy," Beth said, stifling her laughter. Annette's wide eyes fell a little at that and her posture relaxed._

 _"Oh," she said, realisation and relief warming up her features. "Oh. I see. How old?"_

 _Beth shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly._

 _"Early thirties, I think," she said, and Annette nodded her head again._

 _It wasn't like her mother would say anything about his age. After all, there was almost a fifteen year age gap between her parents, plus Hershel had been even been married to Maggie's mother before he was married to Beth's._

 _"I'll leave you to get ready then, sweetheart," Annette said after a moment, running a hand through her daughter's hair affectionately before leaving the room._

* * *

"He'll be here any minute," Beth said, chewing on her bottom lip and checking her phone again. It was almost twelve, and Daryl had called her to let her know that he would be on his way soon enough.

Annette nodded her head up and down quickly, looking over Beth's appearance.

"Are you sure you're going to show him round the farm wearing a dress?" she asked, laughing a little. Beth frowned at her mother before looking down at herself, turning slightly so that she could see behind her, too.

"Why, is something wrong with it? Do I look silly?"

Beth had thought that she looked fine in her yellow sundress. It fell to just above her knee and was simple and soft against her skin. It had sleeves that rolled to the middle of her arms and she wore white pumps and a little white cardigan to match.

Now her mother had questioned her attire and she couldn't help but feel a little bit ridiculous. She had even gone and straightened her hair and wore more make-up than she usually did, and now Beth felt like an over-dressed idiot. Daryl would probably think that she look like one, too.

"No, no," Annette said, shaking her head. "Ignore me, Bethy. I was just wondering if you would be comfortable is all."

That wasn't true and Beth knew it. Her mother could see right through her, even when she didn't want her to, and it was more than obvious that Beth had dressed with the intention of looking nice instead of dressing to be practical. She hadn't thought it would be that noticeable, but Beth had briefly forgotten how well her mother knew her.

Still, Beth didn't fight her on it.

"Okay," was all she said, her voice breaking a little bit as she nodded at her mother. "I'm gonna go outside and wait on the porch."

Annette nodded at her daughter, stepping closer and reaching out to run her fingers through her recently straightened hair. Beth smiled at her mother's touch and watched as Annette grinned back at her.

"You have fun now," she said, and Beth nodded. "You should bring him - them - inside for a little while if y'all get hungry, or want anythin' to drink."

"I will do, mama," Beth responded, kissing her mother on the cheek before turning from where they had been stood in the kitchen and strolled towards the front door.

Once out of the house, Beth sat herself down on the old rocking chair that had a place on the porch. It was the same chair that had been there throughout most of her childhood, and she even had some early memories of sitting with her father and watching the sun rise and set from that rocking chair.

Beth heard the sound of his car approaching and her head shot up from where she had been playing on her phone, locking the device and plopping it quickly into the pocket of her cardigan. She stood up and waited on the top step for Daryl to pull the car up right in front of the house, waving at Ella as she jumped out of the vehicle quickly and rushed up the few steps towards Beth.

Nervousness took over her and naturally, Beth focused all of her attention on the girl - who was kitted out in some of the new things that her Uncle had treated her to, thanks to a little bit of help from Beth - and didn't look up to make eye contact with Daryl as he got out of the car himself and shut the door, noisily making his way up the stoney path that led to the porch steps. Finally, Beth straightened up from where she had been bent down and looked straight across at him from where she was stood on the bottom step of the farmhouse, a blush creeping over her cheeks at the sight of him.

The few times that she had seen him, she had thought that he looked good. Today, he looked even better, though she had thought it to be impossible. He was wearing black jeans and she'd never seen him in anything but a holey light blue pair, but she thought that they suited him perfectly - and they didn't even have any holes in, either. Daryl was still wearing boots (he always seemed to wear boots) but they were dark, too, and he was wearing a green and navy flannel shirt that didn't have the sleeves cut off (for once).

She watched as his eyes trailed over her appearance, lingering on her exposed legs for an extra few seconds before they snapped back up to her own. Beth gave him a friendly smile as he stepped closer towards her and Ella, his movements slow and casual.

"C'mon, Daryl," Ella groaned impatiently, waving one of her hands at him whilst the other reached up to intertwine her finger's with Beth's. Beth looked down at their hands and smiled. "I wanna go an' see th'animals!"

Daryl chuckled lowly and Beth couldn't help but laugh a little, too.

"I'm comin'," he said. Daryl quickened his pace slightly but didn't catch up for a few more seconds as Ella tugged on Beth's hand and encouraged her to lead the way around the farm.

* * *

Ella loved the animals.

It wasn't that Beth hadn't expected her to love them; after her excited reaction when she found out that she lived on a farm, there was no way that Beth could have thought that Ella wouldn't. It was just that she wasn't expecting her to love them _quite_ so much.

The tour of the farm, which Beth had expected to last an hour or two (taking into account seeing all the animals properly and feeding them all, too), ended up lasting most of the day. It was getting later and later and both of the girls were enjoying themselves, and even Daryl had got more relaxed and comfortable around the place, too. Beth had made lunch - fresh ham and cheese sandwiches and a glass of cold lemonade each - and noticed that the farmhouse was empty and that nobody had left a note to say where they would be going or when they would be back.

Almost as soon as they had finished eating, Ella had stood up from where she was sat at the dining room table and grabbed Beth's hand, chattering away in an excited voice that they needed to go back and feed Nelly some more carrots.

In all truthfulness, Beth didn't mind that the visit had lasted a lot longer than she had anticipated it to. If she was being completely honest with herself, she was actually more than happy that it had since it allowed her to get to spend some more time with Daryl and get to know more about him. He was as tight-lipped with personal information as usual, but she was getting there.

Slowly.

Ella was a joy to be around, too. The little girl was funny and loud and enthusiastic about everything. She had a lot of questions about the animals and Beth was pleased to see that she was taking such an interest in them. Sometimes in the spring - when all of the animals had their babies and there were plenty of chicks and lambs and calves - her daddy would allow the elementary school to bring a class or two of pupils to visit the farm and see the animals, and whilst most of the children were excitable and eager to know more, many of them quickly got bored and disinterested in the animals.

But Ella wasn't like that. Ella wanted to know how to feed them and wash them and hold them, and once Beth had told her the basics of how to, Ella wanted to actually do it. She took to caring for the animals like a duck to water and Beth joked to her that she should come and work for her daddy as his new farmhand, and Ella looked at Beth like she had just given her the best compliment in the world.

Beth was even shocked at how the chickens let Ella feed them - even the rooster's, who could be very picky and nasty, too - and throughout the day she found that she was constantly throwing glances at Daryl which were filled with expression of surprise and glee, and Daryl would always just smirk back at her as though he had known all along that this was going to happen. His niece was a natural, that was unquestionable.

"Thanks for t'day," Daryl said once he had placed Ella's sleeping form in the passenger seat of his car, buckling her in and wrapping an old jumper of his around her. Beth just nodded her head at him as he closed the door and walked his way around the front of the car towards the driver's side, brushing past her slightly as he did so.

"Don't mention it," Beth said, her skin prickling with goosebumps at the unexpected contact when his arm brushed against hers on his way round. Daryl didn't look affected by the touch at all, and Beth tried to compose herself quickly before he noticed that she was reacting like that.

 _He's gonna think you're some silly little girl._

"I'm glad she had a good time," she continued, and Daryl nodded his head as he opened up the driver's side door, resting both of his forearms on it as he looked into the car at his niece.

"We both did," he said, his voice low. Daryl's words were mumbled - almost under his breath, but not quite - and Beth was surprised that she managed to hear him at all.

She had tried to keep composed throughout the day that she had spent with him, but Beth couldn't help but grin at his words.

"I'm glad," she said, repeating her earlier words.

Daryl's head shot away from his niece and he looked at her with intense blue eyes, an unreadable expression on his face. They were both still and silent for a few seconds, and Beth's heart was racing in her chest. His gaze was strong and made her feel as though she was going to crumble beneath him, but she stood her ground, wondering what it was that he was looking for in her eyes.

A gust of cool wind blew over them both - the signs of autumn sneaking up on them quicker than they could keep up with - and Beth shivered slightly, pulling at her cardigan with her fists and tugging it tightly around her upper body. Daryl snapped himself out of it at her slight movement and blinked several times before pushing himself from the car door and moving so that half of his body was inside the vehicle.

"Best be goin'," he said to Beth, glancing at his niece. The position he was in _had_ to be uncomfortable.

"Alright," Beth said, nodding her head. "I'll see you around, Daryl."

Daryl offered her a little smile. "See you 'round, Beth."

He got in the car completely then and shut the door behind him. Beth made a move over towards the porch steps of the farmhouse and waited at the bottom of them, waving her hand at Daryl as he turned the car around. He nodded his head at her once before driving down the dirt road, disappearing into the distance. Beth watched him drive away and for the second time in a few weeks she wished that she was going back with him, too.

Beth couldn't have known how long she was standing there for at the bottom of the steps, looking out down towards the road that Daryl had turned on to. Her mother's voice brought her back to reality with a little jump.

"You've got it bad, honey," her mama said, and Beth laughed a little as she turned around to face her.

"I don't know what you mean," Beth said.

Annette was stood at the top of the steps, looking down towards her daughter with raised eyebrows and a smirk. Beth shook her head and smiled back, shivering a little before climbing up the few steps and meeting her mother at the top. Beth turned her body slightly so that she was looking back out at the dirt road again and wondered whether Daryl and Ella were home yet.

"You know exactly what I'm talkin' about," Annette said, looking at her daughter.

Beth blinked a few times before turning her head towards her mother again. Her smile fell a little and her gaze dropped to the floor for a few seconds.

"I'm jus' bein' silly," Beth said with a sigh, and Annette frowned at that but didn't say anything, letting her carry on at her own pace. "S'just... I don't know. I can't really read him. I think I'm just gettin' a little over-excited."

Annette reached her palms up so that they rested on either side of Beth's face and her thumbs brushed across her cheeks affectionately, a warm smile on her face. Whilst she had been being playful just moments before, she was serious and kind now.

"Bethy," she said, and the way that her mother breathed her name gave Beth the sudden urge to cry. She wasn't exactly sure why and she knew that it wasn't a rational reaction to have, but she was confused and plagued by insecurities and the uncertainty that lingered around how Daryl saw her. It was stupid - she barely knew him - but Beth was at a loss of what to do about it.

There wasn't anything that she could do about how she felt towards the man that wasn't a stranger anymore but still wasn't quite a friend.

"He'd be a fool not to be interested in you," Annette said, and Beth smiled at that.

"You've _got_ to say that," Beth said, laughing slightly and shaking her head from side to side. Annette laughed a little bit, too.

"Yeah, I do," she said, smiling. "But I mean it. Any man would be lucky to have you. You're smart and sweet and you're not the worst looking, either."

Her mother's hands had relaxed on her face and were resting on Beth's shoulders now instead, and Beth jutted her chin out slightly at her mother's words. Beth couldn't help thinking that maybe the older woman was right. Maybe she was a catch and maybe Daryl would be an idiot not to see that.

"Now, come on," Annette grinned, her arms dropping back to her sides. "Let's get inside. There's a chill in the air most nights now and you won't want to catch a cold."

Beth nodded her head and followed her mother inside, locking the front door to the farm house behind her and placing the key on the little table that they kept beside the door. She turned around, ready to make her way back upstairs, and noticed that her mother was stood watching her. Beth gave her a half-smile.

"Will he call you tonight? Or maybe send you a text?" Annette asked. Beth shrugged her shoulders. "If he doesn't, then maybe he's not worth it."

Beth nodded her head at that and gave her mama a kiss on the cheek before telling her goodnight. She took her time to change into her pajamas and brush her teeth and comb her hair ready for bed, her mother's words ringing in her ears as she did so. Part of her didn't even want to look at her phone because she hated the idea of Daryl not being worth it when she was so sure that he was. Beth almost didn't check the device, snuggling herself into her pillow and wrapping herself in the duvet and closing her eyes tightly shut for a few moments.

But the technique didn't work and she couldn't shut it out that easily. The curiosity was killing her and her heart was thumping loudly in her chest as her hand reached underneath her pillows and scrambled around in the darkness for her phone. She grabbed it in her hands and slowly pulled it out from underneath the pillow, almost squeezing her eyes shut again so that she didn't see what was on the screen when she pressed the button.

In the end, she was more than glad that she looked and didn't prolong the horrible torture that was waiting to see whether he had contacted her or not. Relieved didn't even come close to explaining how she felt when she saw the notification; _'One new text message: Daryl Dixon'._ Beth bit down on her lip as she unlocked her phone, suddenly feeling incredibly dizzy and excited and she had the urge to giggle out loud as she clicked the message open.

She knew he would be worth it.

* * *

 **Little bit fluffy towards the end. A lot of you are expressing how you remember those roller-coaster emotions when you first started your relationship with your partner and I remember those, too - the constant wondering whether they would text or ring you, wishing you were with them, wanting to spend all your time with them, wondering how they felt about you... It's lovely and horrible all at the same time, and I hope I'm getting that across well.**

 **I don't know if the way I've worded it makes it seems too _dramatic_ , but looking back I think that the early period in relationships (well, for some - if not most - people) kind of is. Even if it seems over the top for everyone else, it feels like such a huge deal at the time and I can laugh at myself now for it but it used to almost drive me crazy! So yeah, that's what Beth's basically going through at the end of this chapter and I hope it makes sense. I'm not trying to make her seem spoiled or childish, she's just being girly and excitable and wondering whether her crush likes her back. Hope that's clear enough, anyway. **

**Sorry for the long AN. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review & remember that I have updated the earlier chapters with more info, so if you're a bit confused by anything mentioned then it's because I've added more into the previous chapters. Thanks for reading! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Just a quick thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far! I really appreciate hearing from you all. I think I'm going to get started on writing my sequel to Only One now that my summer has officially begun and I'm going to try and balance my time between these stories as equally as I can.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

 ** _"You're like a candy store, and I'm a toddler,_**

 ** _You got me wantin' more and more."_**

 **\- 'Your Love', Nicki Minaj**

* * *

Daryl's eyes shot open suddenly and his breathing was ragged. He took in a few deeps breaths and ran one of his hands over his face, trying his best to ignore the aching feeling in his boxer shorts. He was hard - painfully so - and he was pretty sure that if he would have slept for a few minutes longer then he would have definitely blown his load without even realising it.

He cursed himself for behaving like a damned teenager and couldn't believe that he had actually almost had a wet dream, all over Beth Greene. Dreams of her had become more of a regular occurrence and he had even been getting used to them, but tonight was the first time that anything like _this_ had happened.

Daryl could practically still feel the ghost of her on his lips, still taste her on his tongue, even though none of it had been real. He was so sure that he had felt her legs wrapped around his waist and he could remember how tight and wet she felt - even if it _had_ been a dream. One of Daryl's hands involuntarily moved south towards the straining in his boxers and he couldn't think of anything other than _her_ and how good it would feel to be inside of her and...

"Daryl?"

His eyes had fluttered shut but they were snapping open again almost instantly and he flung his upper body from where it was lay on the mattress. Daryl tore his hand away from where it had just been and re-adjusted his boxers quickly, squinting into the darkness to try and find the source of the noise.

Ella was stood in the doorway to his bedroom, wearing a night gown that fell to the middle of her calves and clutching a teddy in her hands that she had brought with her from home. Daryl didn't know who had bought it for her - had never asked - but just assumed that it had been Merle. He didn't say anything and tried to calm his erratic breathing as he sat waiting for her to say something more.

The little girl didn't, and Daryl resisted the urge to groan. It was so late and he was so tired, up in just a few hours to get Ella ready for school and to get himself to work. Daryl knew he had to say something, but he didn't have the slightest clue on where to start.

"'S the matter?" he grunted, rubbing one of his eyes with the back of his hand.

Ella took him speaking as an invitation and padded her way across the room towards him, leaving the door slightly ajar behind her and clutching the teddy tightly to her chest. She stopped at the side of the bed and Daryl knew that she wanted to get in beside him but she wouldn't do it unless he told her that she could.

"C'mon," he mumbled, patting the empty space beside him for emphasis and even though it was dark, he was sure that he could see a faint smile spread across her face as she crawled in the bed beside him.

Ella lay her head on the pillow and snuggled into it for a moment, lying still and waiting as Daryl lay himself back down, too. His niece was lay on her side facing towards him whilst Daryl lay on his back staring up at the ceiling.

"Can't sleep?" Daryl asked, watching from the corner of his eye as she nodded her head quickly. "Bad dreams?" he pushed, and Ella nodded again. Daryl let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, throwing one of his arms over his face in a lazy attempt to cover it.

They lay in silence for quite a while, but Daryl could tell from the sound of her breathing that she was still wide awake, so he didn't try and get himself to sleep, either. He might not have been great at this whole nurturing shit, but he wasn't going to just leave his niece to stay awake on her own when she was having nightmares.

There had been a time when he used to have bad dreams as a child, too; and he remembered how nobody had ever been there for him. Remembered how his mama hadn't sang to him or held him close, even though it was all that he had wanted. Remembered how Merle had laughed the way that big brother's always did and remembered the way that his pa got angry, telling him that Dixon's don't have nightmares and that Dixon's don't cry about anything - especially not bad dreams.

Those times were long gone, and that was how he planned on keeping them. Daryl didn't want his niece going through what he'd had to go through as a child and knew that he would never put her in that position. He might not be able to sing to her and soothe her, but he'd still be there all the same in the best ways that he could.

"Daryl?"

Ella whispered his name into the darkness, uncertainty evident in her tone. Daryl removed his arm from where it had been covering his eyes and tilted his head towards her, grunting in recognition so that she knew that he was awake and had heard her.

The little girl was quiet for a few longer moments, the teddy now resting underneath her chin in her vice-like grip.

"When will daddy come home?"

Daryl wasn't sure how many times that she had asked him that question, and there had been so many times that he had dismissed her with 'soon' or 'one day', or 'eventually'. All blunt answers, but none of them really giving her much to cling on to. Daryl knew that Merle had been sentenced to eight years, but that it would probably be four if he behaved himself.

That was a big if.

But how could he tell her that? He couldn't. He didn't know how. Daryl wasn't even sure that she would understand him, wasn't even sure that she would be able to cope with knowing that her father would be gone for that long. Daryl still needed to take her to visit Merle, but he figured that right now, it was too soon. They were both getting used to their new lives and trying their best to settle in and Ella was adjusting to a life where Merle wasn't going to be there for an unknown length of time. The last thing that Daryl wanted to do was take her to see him before either of them were really ready and end up confusing and upsetting her even more than she already was.

"I dunno," he mumbled, answering Ella as honestly as he could.

She let out a shaky sigh at that and shuffled as she clutched the teddy impossibly tighter to her chest. Ella was quiet for a little while longer before she spoke again.

"I miss daddy," she said, her voice soft and quiet in the darkness.

Her tone near enough broke Daryl's heart, and he tried to swallow down the lump in his throat. Daryl wasn't sure that he would ever be able to forgive Merle, not for doing this to her and not for putting him in this position.

"Me too, kiddo," he said, sighing loudly. "Me too."

* * *

Seeing Beth was pretty damn awkward.

Daryl knew in himself that he was awkward enough around her as it was without making it worse by remembering some of the things that he had been dreaming of recently. And it wasn't just in his sleep, either - sometimes he'd get distracted at work, other times at home or when he was driving. Daryl hadn't been able to shake her for a while now and he was just about getting used to the idea of that without throwing this in the mix.

Now, all he could think of was the way he had pleasured himself to the thought of her lips wrapped around him. Daryl was surprised that he was even managing to look her in the eye.

"Daryl!" she exclaimed, and he cringed because he remembered the way that she said it in his fantasies - breathy and gasping and pleading.

But she actually looked like she was happy to see him there; grinning at him whilst he stood in the middle of the store in his work clothes, no sign of any six year old girl's around. He gave her a small smile back and nodded in acknowledgement, making his way slowly towards where she was cleaning the till area and looking around the store as though he was really all that interested in what new children's things they had in.

"How are you?" Beth asked, looking up at him whilst she wiped down the area.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly at her.

"Not bad," he said, finally meeting her gaze. "You?"

Beth seemed to appreciate him returning the question back to her if the grin on her face was anything to go by, and she picked up the rag and the polish that she had been using and placed it in a drawer underneath the cash register.

"I'm doin' okay," she said, smiling. "Got a lot of assignments due in these next few weeks, but I finish for the holidays soon."

Daryl nodded his head at that, not sure what to say to her. He was thankful that she didn't miss a beat in continuing the conversation, obviously aware of how much better she was at talking than him. It wasn't even like he minded because Daryl would happily listen to her chirp on with herself all day long if she wanted to. It was just that he knew that girls liked that emotional crap (they did, didn't they?) and thought that she would probably like him more if he at least _tried_ to speak to her. Maybe if he made a bit of an effort with conversation, then she could even be interested in him.

As far as being honest with himself went, Daryl didn't want to be. Not about her. Of course he knew that the was interested in her and hell, he'd take her any way that she offered herself to him if she ever did; but he wasn't ready to actively admit to having any feelings towards her. Not yet. Not even to himself.

"How's Ella holdin' up? She behavin' for you?"

Daryl nodded his head at that as he pushed himself away from the till and headed in the direction of the girls things. Ella didn't actually need anything from Lori's and he had really come down here because he wanted to see her - even if he had told himself that it was because he wanted to treat his niece to something new since he had just been paid - but now that he was actually here in front of her, he realised that he needed to at least pretend that he didn't come down here just for her.

Making himself look like some sort of creepy stalker wasn't the plan.

"She's alrigh'," Daryl said simply.

There must have been something in his tone that gave it away to her because Beth frowned and looked at him expectantly. Daryl glanced at her after she had been staring at him for a few seconds and held eye contact with her for a long few seconds before he sighed in defeat.

Daryl ran a hand through his hair and shifted on his feet slightly, feeling more than just a little bit uncomfortable. He had never been one for sharing feeling's, but Daryl knew that Beth was genuinely interested in Ella's welfare and besides, she would only pester him to death about it if he didn't just come clean with her now. He hadn't known her for very long, but he did know that she was stubborn as hell - and that she was starting to read him better.

 _Gotta work on that poker face again._

"She's not been sleepin' too good," he said, watching as concern made it's way onto Beth's features.

She was so fucking pretty, even when her brows were creased and her lips were pouted and her jaw was locked. She was going to be the death of him and he knew it.

"Has she said what's wrong?" Beth asked.

Daryl knew that she wasn't just being nosey like some small town gossip. Beth actually _cared._ She honest to God gave a shit about his niece and how she was doing, maybe even how _he_ was doing, too, and he wasn't used to that.

Shrugging his shoulders seemed like a go-to reaction around Beth and it made him feel less awkward around her; as though he was actually doing something, as though he was contributing to the conversation some way. So he shrugged again.

"Reckon she's missin' her daddy," he said, scratching at his stubble. He really needed a shave. "She's been askin' 'bout him. When he's comin' home an' what have you. Keeps wakin' me up in the night... she's stayed in bed wi' me these past few days."

Beth nodded her head at that and looked down towards the floor for a moment, clearly deep in thought as she played with the ends of her hair. Daryl liked it best when she wore it down in waves around her face and he wished that it was his own hands playing with it.

"You've not been getting much sleep then, huh?" Beth asked, her eyes flicking back up to his, and Daryl nodded his head before averting his gaze, suddenly finding the selection of hair accessories much more interesting.

The feel of her palm pressing against his bare bicep cause Daryl to jump ever so slightly, his head snapping back up to look her way once more. He wanted to be angry at her for invading his personal space; but he couldn't feel anything but calm as he looked right into her blue eyes, a soft and kind smile on her face.

"That must be hard for you," she said, and Daryl nodded slightly.

It was like she had him in a trance, under a spell. Daryl wasn't one to look for pity from people - never had been - and he never went out looking or asking for help, either. He may not have been as stubborn as her, but he was still stubborn nonetheless. So even the tiny nod of his head in agreement with her words was a big step for him.

Daryl couldn't remember the last time he confided in someone like this. Maybe he had never even bothered to. Not since Merle left.

"You know, I could always help you out," Beth said, and Daryl frowned.

"Don't need no charity, Beth," he said. Daryl tried to grumble, but found that his voice was softer than he had ever heard it before.

"It's not charity," she scolded. "I _want_ to help."

Beth gently squeezed at his bicep as she spoke and he glanced down to where her hand was resting on him, his eyes slightly narrowed when they flickered back up to hers. There was a light blush on the tops of her cheeks and she looked as though she hadn't even realised she was touching him until he had acknowledged the presence of her hand on him.

Her hand gently fell back to her side at a slow pace and Daryl cursed himself for missing the contact. He was an idiot.

"Besides," she said, picking herself back up and smiling at him. "I love spending time with Ella. She's a pleasure. Maybe you could bring her round to the farm again sometime since she seemed to love the animals. Or I could even stop by sometime and..." she trailed off, her eyes unsure. Daryl cocked a brow at her expectantly. "If you wanted me to. Obviously."

He smirked at that - he just had to, and whilst Beth's shoulders had tensed in realisation of what she was saying, they relaxed now in what he assumed was relief. She probably didn't have a clue how he would react, but in all honesty, Daryl didn't mind.

There had been several occasions now when he wished that he wasn't leaving her at the farm or at the grocery store. Instead, he had wished that he was bringing her back home with him; wished that she was riding beside him in the passenger seat, wished that she was there whilst he got Ella to bed, wished that she was there when he flopped himself onto his mattress and tried to get some much needed sleep.

Maybe it would be nice to stop wishing and actually have her there. Maybe not in all of the ways that he wanted, but in some - and surely that would be enough. Hell, maybe it would even stop him thinking about her for a little while.

"Yeah," he said, nodding his head at her. "S'long as you're sure y'don't mind," he said, and Beth shook her head at him.

"Of course I don't," she said. "I wouldn't offer if I did."

Daryl looked at her suspiciously for a moment, but then he relaxed as Beth began to chatter away about the new things that were in stock that he could look at. In all truthfulness, he was trying his hardest to pay attention, but he couldn't stop thinking about how she had just arranged to come over to his place sometime. Daryl wondered whether it was obvious that he was distracted and couldn't help but notice the way that she tucked her hair behind her ear or the way that her hips moved when she walked ahead of him or the way that she blinked up at him with those innocent blue eyes.

Maybe having her in his apartment wasn't going to be the best idea after all.

Maybe it was just going to make this desire to have her closer even worse.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, so I'm sorry if this AN seems a little long, I just wanted to explain the reasoning that I have for the way I've written this chapter.**

 **I've given it quite a bit of a time jump, skipping over the holidays and landing straight on NYE. I hope this doesn't disappoint anyone, but I just think that in this story, these two are definitely not at a stage in their friendship where they would spend Thanksgiving/Christmas together. I was going to write all of that but I just kind of felt like it was all filler stuff, and I can always do flashbacks if need be.**

 **Secondly, Beth has still not be round to Daryl's apartment, so I've not missed that out since I know a few of you were saying you were excited to read that. I know it probably seems a bit weird since Daryl basically invited her last chapter but you know, it's Daryl, and she's not just going to invite herself round whenever she wants just because he suggested it and he's not said much about it since. Daryl _has_ been to the farm a couple more times with Ella and the pair of them have spoken over text/phone etc, so they are getting more and more comfortable around each other, but up until now they're (still) both using Ella as a bit of an excuse to talk to each other and see each other, so they've not done much without her there. **

**Oh, he's yet to meet the parents, too. I wanted to write that and have a bit of an idea about how it could happen, so that's why I didn't want to just assume that he had done.**

 **So basically nothing much has really happened except I've sped it up a couple more weeks and jumped to NYE. There's some info in the chapter anyway to fill in anything that I might have missed, but I hope that this AN answers all of the questions that this time jump might have for you. After reading this, if there's anything you think that I've missed or that is vague, please mention it in a review and I'll answer it next chapter.**

* * *

 _ **"I might seem so strong, I might speak so long,**_ _ **I've never been so wrong.**_

 _ **Excuse me for a while, while I'm wide eyed and so damn caught in the middle."**_

 _ **-**_ **'Strong', London Grammar**

* * *

"Beth," Amy smiled. "You look _amazing._ Stop fretting."

Beth gave her friend a pointed look, but Amy didn't back down. Instead, she just cocked her brow at the younger blonde and stood her ground. Beth sighed audibly and flopped into a sitting position on the bed, giving in the urge to change out of her outfit and just put her pajamas back on.

Amy seemed please that Beth had submitted to her and crawled over towards her, a curling iron in her hands. Amy was ready to tackle Beth's hair - which desperately needed at least a trim, because it's length and thickness were growing much faster than she could keep up with - and positioned herself behind her friend, combing through it with a big brush before taking a strand and beginning the long process of curling it.

"Aren't you excited to see Daryl?" Amy asked, and Beth rolled her eyes, even though her friend couldn't see her.

"No," Beth lied.

Amy laughed.

"Can't fool me that easily, Bethy," Amy said in a sing-song voice. "Don't worry, I'll do your hair all nice and pretty for him. He likes it curly, right?"

Beth shrugged her shoulders, honestly unsure. Daryl never really gave her many compliments, but he did always seem to look at her a little differently when she wore her hair down; especially when she had it in waves, so she supposed that had to mean something.

"He's never really said," Beth admitted, feeling a little deflated. Most of the boys that she had been out with before were openly flirtatious and there was usually a lot of things for her to discuss with her friends about them. But Daryl was different.

Daryl gave her so much and yet so little all at the same time. He was incredibly confusing and Beth was still getting there in terms of reading him. They were gradually becoming closer and she would definitely class him as a friend now, even if she did desperately want him to be something more.

It was only by chance that Beth even knew that he was going out tonight. Amy's older sister Andrea always picked up Ella from the elementary school along with her own two children and would watch her for an hour or two until Daryl picked her up straight after he finished work. Andrea had mentioned in passing to her younger sibling that she was watching Ella tonight and that Daryl was going to one of the bar's in town with Cesar Martinez, Andrea's ex-husband and Daryl's boss.

Amy had come straight to Beth with the information, knowing more than enough about her crush on the older man and had insisted that they were going to celebrate New Years Eve at that bar whether she liked it or not. Beth didn't really put up much of a fight since the idea of spending some time with just Daryl without Ella being there (as much as she loved having her around) was too good of an opportunity to turn down.

But she had been more confident then because New Year had seemed so far away. Now that it was actually here, Beth wasn't so sure of herself.

Amy had tried to encourage her to wear some fake tan on her pale skin but Beth had briefly remembered a conversation she'd had with Daryl where he had been teasing her about her skin tone and ended up complimenting her, so she quickly declined Amy's offer.

* * *

 _"Sure ya won't burn out here without any cream on?" Daryl asked, and Beth shot him a questioning look._

 _"What?" she said, laughing a little. "Daryl, it's the middle of November."_

 _Daryl nodded confidently and it was only then that Beth noticed the look on his face. There was almost a gleam in his eye that was different to the way he usually was, and it was only then that realisation dawned upon her._

 _Daryl was teasing her._

 _"An' you're the palest thing I've ever seen," he pointed out._

 _Although he was joking and just winding her up, he was probably being pretty serious, too. After all, she was so pale compared to his tanned colouring. She supposed it had something to do with her Irish genes, although she wasn't really sure. At least she had something to blame it on, though._

 _She laughed at his statement and shook her head, looking out towards Ella who was running along the field with the sheepdog that her daddy had adopted a few weeks before. The dog was well behaved and easy enough to train, and Hershel had guessed him at being around eighteen months old. The dog didn't have a collar and hadn't been chipped, either, so they had no clue as to who the owner was._

 _Beth had made an effort to put out posters and advertisements stating that the dog had been found around town because she couldn't cope with the idea of someone missing their pet, but so far, nobody had come forward to claim him. Hershel had said that he could stay with them until someone did come for him, and if they never did, then he would never leave._

 _"Next thing, you'll be tellin' me that you're surprised I don't sparkle in the sunlight."_

 _She was teasing him now, but Daryl was frowning in confusion and squinting at her from where he was walking beside her and Beth couldn't hold in her little laugh at the sight of him._

 _"Sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I guess I didn't think that one through. I didn't peg you for being the Twilight type."_

 _Daryl smirked a little at that and looked away from her, Ella's laughter in the distance catching both of their attention. Beth smiled at the sight of the girl throwing something that looked very much like a stick out ahead of her and the dog running to catch it._

 _"You're right, I ain't," he said, and Beth smiled again. There was just something about the thought of Daryl Dixon watching Twilight that made her want to laugh out loud. "'Sides, I'm only teasin'. You ain't that pale."_

 _Beth snorted._

 _"I am," she said. "I know I'm whiter than white. I've tried tannin' before, but I just burn somethin' awful. Figured I'd rather live with havin' pale skin instead of burnt skin."_

 _Daryl nodded at that and didn't say anything for a few moments._

 _"I like the colour 'f your skin," he said._

 _It was more of a mumble than anything and Beth only just heard what he said, but his words still caused a faint blush to appear across her cheeks. Beth turned to face him and smiled brightly. He wasn't facing her but she knew that he would be able to see her out of the corner of his eye._

 _"Thanks, Daryl," she said, her tone kind as she reached out her hand between them and put it in his._

 _Daryl looked down at where she had intertwined their fingers for a moment before looking back up at her, a skeptical expression on his face. Beth just smiled at him and began humming a tune._

 _Daryl relaxed after a moment and gave her hand a little bit of a squeeze as a comfortable silence fell between them._

* * *

"Beth," Amy said, moving the curling iron away from Beth's hair and moving her head round her friends shoulder so that she could see her face better. "Are you even there?"

Beth blinked a few times and looked at her friend in confusion, her blue eyes wide and her lips parted. Amy looked frustrated at first, but her expression quickly turned as she smirked at Beth.

"What?" Beth asked, wincing a little as she spoke.

She wasn't sure that she wanted to know exactly what was running through Amy's mind. Her friend had a habit of getting carried away with herself.

But Amy didn't say anything and moved back to her original position, taking another strand of her long hair and wrapping it around the curling iron.

"Nothing," Amy said quickly. A few beats of silence passed between them until Beth spoke again. "You've got it bad, Beth Greene."

Beth groaned but didn't say anything more. This was taking her back to the conversation that she'd had with her mother the first time that Daryl and Ella had come to visit the farm, and Beth didn't want to go down that route again. Tonight was New Year's Eve and she wasn't going to ruin it by getting way too emotional.

"Don't worry," Amy said as she brushed through Beth's hair. "I already know that he's going to be all over you when he sees you. And so do you. You just won't let yourself admit it."

Beth shook her head and tried not to pout, feeling a little bit like a silly schoolgirl being all worked up like this over a guy. It was something that she had always told herself that she would never be, especially after seeing her sister get worked up over plenty of men in her time of dating - a time that seemed so long ago now that Glenn was on the scene.

But this wasn't just any guy. This was _Daryl._

"He's not like that, Amy," Beth said. "I already told you. He's kind of..."

"Shy? Mysterious? Complex?" Amy interrupted when Beth trailed off, her tone slightly teasing. Beth couldn't help but smirk at her friend's words. "Don't worry Beth, I know. I _get it._ But you're forgetting one thing that's going to make tonight different."

Beth frowned and turned around so that she was looking straight at Amy.

"What's that?" she asked when Amy didn't say anything.

"Alcohol."

* * *

The bar was crammed.

It seemed like everyone in town had decided to come here for New Year and Beth and Amy had spent the first forty minutes of their evening waiting in a line outside. That in itself had surprised Beth - she wasn't sure that she had ever had to wait like that to get into a bar in town. She would have probably expected it to be so busy in the city, but not here in the middle of nowhere.

Still, waiting didn't put a damper on their evening. Beth was wearing a light blue playsuit with a sweetheart neckline and lace arms that cut off just above her elbows. Beth kept tugging down on the baggy shorts of the playsuit, paranoid that she was was completely overdressed in the outfit, which she had matched with a pair of wedged white sandals and a white clutch.

Realistically, Beth had little reason to worry about looking out of place. Amy's outfit of choice was much more daring than her own; her friend deciding to wear a tight bodycon dress in a bright red colour that amplified her cleavage and showed off her long legs. Matched with a pair of black heels and a black bag, Beth wasn't so sure that she would ever be able to feel comfortable in something quite so revealing.

Even so, Amy pulled it off and didn't even look trashy like some of the other women in the line who were wearing similar style dressed did. The girls had to show their ID to get into the bar, but Beth wasn't the least bit surprised about that. After all, everyone always told her that she had a baby face.

When the girls had been waiting outside, Beth had regretted not bringing a jacket with her because it was freezing. But now that she was inside, she was relieved that she hadn't - she had only been inside for what had to be less than five minutes, and Beth was already sweltering.

As soon as they were inside, Amy dragged Beth over towards the bar where she had spotted someone that she knew from college. The man didn't look like the kind of person that Amy would usually associate with; rather on the large side and sporting a mullet, but Beth had never been one to judge, so she smiled at him and introduced herself as Beth whilst he introduced himself as Eugene.

Amy ordered them a round of shots from the bartender, Carol, before Beth could even get a word in as to what she wanted to drink; and Eugene was adamant that he would be paying for whatever it was that they were buying. At his insistence, Amy shot Beth a smirk that made her feel more than a little bit uncomfortable, but Beth decided not to think anything of it. If Eugene was going to let Amy treat him like that, then that was his decision.

Besides, the alcohol that she was drinking was quickly causing more of a buzz than usual, and Beth decided that it probably had something to do with the fact that she skipped dinner that evening so that she could get ready with Amy instead. Soon, both of the girls were giggling and slurring their words as they made their way to a booth that was surprisingly free, and Eugene settled himself in first before Amy slid in next to him.

Beth squeezed in next to her friend and smiled when Amy took a picture of them both, but just a few seconds later Amy's smile had been wiped off her face and she suddenly looked a lot more sober.

"Shit," Amy cursed, and Beth frowned at her, her blue eyes scanning the busy bar in search for whatever it was that had caught Amy's attention.

But she didn't need Amy to say anything else to her, because her eyes locked on who it was that her friend had just seen. Beth's whole body went tense and she gripped tightly to the glass of green liquid that she had in both of her hands.

"What is it?" Eugene asked, frowning at both of the girls. Amy turned to face him, but Beth felt as though she was frozen in place and couldn't move.

"See that guy over there?" Amy asked, pointing towards him. "That's Zach. Beth's ex-boyfriend."

* * *

 **All we need now is Daryl to come and save the day. *Swoons***

 **Please review and let me know what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

_**"And if in the moment I bite my lip, baby in that moment, you'll know this is**_

 _ **Something bigger than us and beyond bliss."**_

 _ **-**_ **'Love Me Harder', Ariana Grande ft The Weekend**

* * *

In Amy's defence, the girl had really done pretty much everything that she could to make sure that Beth was well-hidden from Zach's eyes. But both girls had known that they wouldn't be able to stick together all night with how busy it was and no matter how hard they tried to stay together, Beth was eventually shoved from behind and knocked out of the way when the girls were making their way onto the dance floor (joined by Rosita, another one of Amy's friends from college who seemed nice enough) and she couldn't see her friend anywhere.

Even in her heels, Beth was shorter than most people and although she tried to crane her neck and scan over the crowd in search for Amy, it was hopeless. Beth groaned loudly and hung her head in defeat, giving up on any chance of finding the girls now. She would probably just go and sit back down in the booth with Eugene - even if he was kind of creepy and a little bit perverted - or even just call a cab and go back home.

Just as she was about to turn in the direction of the booth that Eugene was holding for them all, Beth felt a pair of hands wrap around her waist and her whole body tensed up. Those hands were unpleasantly familiar and her breath caught in her throat at the feel of Zach pressing up against her.

He was drunk, that was clear enough from his bold actions. Beth pried his hands away and turned round quickly, stepping backwards ever so slightly when she realised just how close their faces were.

Beth breathed out his name and wasn't sure why she sounded so surprised since she had already spotted him earlier on in the night and she had known that it was him who was behind her, just because. Zach grinned at her, looking more than just a little bit ridiculous as he struggled to keep himself standing upright.

"Hey babe," he slurred, and Beth wasn't sure whether he was winking at her or whether he was just struggling to keep one of his eyes open. His jaw was hanging open as he stood there and Beth briefly wondered whether or not he had been indulging in more substances than just alcohol because he seemed to be completely out of it. "Where ya been?"

Zach was hiccuping now and laughing, too, and Beth couldn't help but grimace at him. Her mouth was turned downwards in a frown and she stepped further away from him as he tried to reach out towards her.

"Hey!" he said, laughing again. "Where... Where ya goin', Beth?"

Beth looked around her in search for a familiar face but couldn't see anyone that she knew in the crowd of unfamiliar faces. She briefly wondered whether or not Eugene would spot that she was in trouble since Amy had pointed Zach out to him earlier on, but Beth quickly disposed of that idea. Nice as he seemed, Beth just had a feeling Eugene wouldn't be willing to help anyone but himself.

"Leave me alone, Zach," Beth said, her voice straining over the music to make sure that he heard her.

 _Since when had it been playing that loud?_

Beth was trying her best to stand her ground and look intimidating, but Zach didn't seem to be taking her very seriously at all if the grin on his face was anything to go by. Part of Beth wanted to reach out and slap it from him, but she controlled the impulse as best she could. There was no need to turn this into something more than it already was.

"Come on, baby," he slurred, stepping closer again.

Beth tried to take another step back to put more distance between them, but she was basically pressed up against the back of a stranger and she didn't want to rile anybody up by getting in their personal space the same way that Zach was getting in hers. She reasoned with herself that this was nothing she couldn't handle; she'd dealt with drunken Zach more times than she could count, and he was harmless enough, really.

Disrespectful? Definitely. Rude? One hundred percent. Out of line? For sure.

But Beth wasn't scared of him.

At least, she hadn't been.

Not until he reached both of his arms out so that they rested on her upper arms and squeezed his fingers into her flesh. It was a horrible sensation and Beth bit back the urge to shout out even though she was very much in pain. The last thing that she wanted to do was make a show of herself in the middle of the bar on New Year's Eve of all nights.

"Let go of me," she said, trying to shove his hands from her arms without much success. Zach stumbled closer to her and she could have sworn that he was trying to kiss her. "Zach. I mean it. Let go."

His face never really got close enough to Beth's for him to be able to do anything and Beth had squeezed her eyes tightly shut as she spoke, not wanting to look at him as his lips attempted to descend upon hers. The feeling of his fingers digging into her flesh suddenly vanished and she could no longer sense him looming over her body the way that he had been just seconds before. Beth blinked her eyes open slowly and straightened her body up from where she had been crouching, turning her head around so that she could lock her eyes on Zach.

But her view of him was obscured by a broad back and large shoulders and her heart skipped a beat at the sound of his voice. _Daryl._ It took her a few seconds to hear what he was saying and she quickly realised that he was speaking much louder than she had ever heard him before - shouting, really. Beth had an inclination that his raised voice wasn't just because of the volume of the music in the bar.

"Pretty sure she told you to get _off,_ " Daryl said.

A bizarre sense of adrenaline rushed through the body and before she even realised what she was doing, Beth was placing her palms flat against Daryl's back and raising herself on her tiptoes, peeking over his shoulder and getting a glimpse at Zach. Daryl had a strong grip on the front of the younger man's shirt - bunching the neckline around his fist - and had him held impossibly close to his face, their foreheads basically resting against each other's.

The whole interaction seemed incredibly primal and Daryl was practically growling at Zach. Beth's heart was pounding in her chest and she rested her cheek against Daryl's shoulder, not wanting to look at Zach's horrified expression anymore. The boy was practically cowering beneath Daryl's hold and Beth thought that their interaction was probably enough to ensure that Zach crossed the street if he ever saw her coming towards him in future.

"Better make sure I don't catch you near her again," Daryl spat, throwing Zach away from his body with so much force that it nearly knocked him onto the floor.

Instead, it sent him flying into another man who was also practically twice his size and did not look pleased to see that it was Zach who had fallen into him and knocked his drink down the dress of the woman he was stood talking to.

Before Beth could think anything of what was about to happen to Zach, Daryl was turning to face her. She took a slight step back away from him so that she could see him better and found that her breathing was heavy and unsteady. Her light blue eye's locked on Daryl's for a long moment and it took her a few seconds before she gave him a shaky smile.

"Hey," she breathed, her voice a little shaky.

Daryl didn't say anything to her and instead raised his hands to her face, holding it in his hands and staring right into her eyes. Beth swallowed nervously and looked back up at him with wide eyes, not wanting to disturb him from whatever it was that he was thinking. The man was incredibly pensive and he never really gave her much in terms of physical contact - just the odd light touch here and there that drove her crazy with want - and she concentrated on revelling in the feeling of his hands on her face. His thumbs brushed over her cheeks two or three times and Beth couldn't help but lean in to his touch.

She desperately wanted _more_ _._

But before she knew what was happening, Daryl was pulling his hands away from her face and straightening his body slightly so that he wasn't quite so close to her. Beth wanted to whimper at him to move closer and debated grabbing his hands and forcing them back onto her cheeks, but she decided against it.

That was probably being _way_ too forward, even by Amy's standards.

"Thank you," Beth breathed, and she was surprised that Daryl even managed to hear her at all in the loud room.

"Ain't gotta thank me," he said. Beth didn't hear him the first time and stood on her tiptoes to get closer to him, using his shoulders to steady herself and pressing her ear close to his lips.

It was something that she wouldn't have usually done, but she blamed it on the alcohol for now.

Just like she blamed the alcohol for the way that his voice in her ear when he repeated himself and caused her to shiver, goosebumps appearing all over her arms.

Beth pulled away slightly and smiled up at him kindly, still using his shoulders to steady herself.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, and Daryl tilted his head to the side, cocking a brow at her.

Beth had to giggle at that. There had been a few times now where she had thought that Daryl looked adorable, and this was another one of them. It reminded her of the way that her daddy's sheepdog (Clark, they had named him) would look at her when she called his name before he came bounding towards her from across the fields.

And that dog was definitely adorable.

She couldn't help but wonder whether he could see right through her act. Beth didn't want him to think that she was stalking him - after all, this honestly had been Amy's idea, not hers. Sure, she had gone along with it, but she still wasn't going to be taking most of the credit for it. Still, Beth had to wonder if it was obvious that she wasn't really surprised to see him there.

"Could ask you the same question, girl," he said, smirking slightly. "Who was that asshole, anyway?"

Beth opened her mouth to respond to him but was cut off by the loud sound of cheering. She jumped slightly at the sound and landed flat on her feet again; and the movement caused her hands to slide ever so slightly lower, so that they were pressed more against his chest than his shoulders. Daryl gave her a concerned glance, his hands automatically reaching out to rest on her hips as to steady her whilst they both glanced up towards where the rest of the crowd were looking.

There were television screens scattered all over the bar, and Beth assumed that they were usually played sport events during the daytime. But tonight, they had a countdown plastered across them, moving down from sixty. Beth glanced at the watch on her wrist - it had been a present from her daddy for her eighteenth birthday - and saw that it was less than a minute to midnight.

Almost immediately, Beth was looking back to Daryl and found that he was looking right back at her. His blue eyes were unreadable but intense and not for the first time, Beth wished that she had some sort of inkling as to what he was thinking or feeling right now. She couldn't help it as her gaze flickered down to his lips and then back up to his eyes.

She could hear the crowd chanting, and Beth couldn't help but smile up at Daryl as the countdown got closer and closer to zero. He smiled down at her, too - not a smirk, but a genuine smile, and the sight made her heart pound harder in her chest.

It was more than just a little cliché, standing there and staring with him during the countdown, and Beth wanted nothing more than for him to kiss her. When it finally got to zero, she bit down on her lower lip and grinned up at him.

Daryl was frozen in place and even though the alcohol was coursing through her veins and even though every inch of her wanted to move her lips onto his, she didn't. Instead, Beth stood up on her tiptoes once more and looked straight into his eyes for a long few seconds before she leaned into him. Beth pressed her lips to his cheek softly and she swore she felt him burning beneath her.

It only lasted for a second or two and then she was back on her feet again, smiling up at him sweetly. Daryl looked surprised, his lips parted and his blue eyes wider than usual, and Beth couldn't help but giggle at his expression.

"Happy New Year, Daryl," she said, sliding her arms from where they were resting on his chest and letting them fall by her side once more.

It took him a few beats, but then he was quickly composing himself, snapping out of his own thoughts. Daryl smirked down at her, tilting his head to the side again and looking straight into her eyes. Beth desperately wished that she could read him better.

"Happy New Year, Beth."

* * *

 **I feel like I'm teasing you all since I said that this wasn't going to be slow-burn. But I don't think ten chapters is too slow burn, right? Especially when most of them have been describing pretty much one day each. These last two have described one evening, so you know.**

 **Please don't hate me! Things are about to heat up in this Bethyl world. In my first fanficton 'Only One', Beth and Daryl got together on a drunken night and I didn't want to do the exact same thing in this story. So as much as I would love to have them get together on NYE, I just didn't want it to be too much like my other story. So I hope that makes sense and you understand why I didn't go there.**

 **Anyway, enough of my rambling. I'm not sure whether I'll get chance to update over the weekend so please leave me lots of reviews to read and to motivate me for the next chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi!**

 **I know I said I probably wouldn't get chance to update this weekend, but I couldn't sleep last night and ended up writing this. I've had a quick edit of it this morning but I just figured I would throw it out there because I feel kind of mean for teasing you all for a while. So yeah.**

 **Hope you like it!**

* * *

 ** _"Let's go all the way tonight, no regrets, just love."_**

 ** _-_ 'Teenage Dream', Katy Perry**

* * *

Daryl wasn't exactly sure how he got into this position.

Sure, he knew the basics. They met when she served him at Lori's store, she quickly established that he was new in town and then invited him and Ella down to the farm, which they had now visited just over a couple of times. They exchanged numbers and chatted every now and again ( _which was a big enough move as it was, because Daryl didn't just idly text people for no real reason_ ). He had seen her out and about a couple of times - like on New Year's Eve at the bar, or the time when they had crossed paths at the supermarket - and he knew that they all contributed to being in this situation.

Plus there was the fact that really, he had always been attracted to her. Daryl had always had thoughts of Beth Greene floating around in his head since the first time that they had met, even though he had tried his hardest for a long while to shut those thoughts out.

In the beginning, he thought it was probably because she was the first person that he had even interacted with in town. But he had made friends since then - real friends, like the Sheriff and Dale and Martinez - and he still couldn't shake her.

He figured that he knew he was really screwed on New Years, after she had kissed him ( _alright, it was on the cheek, but a kiss was a kiss anyway_ ). Daryl didn't really remember what exactly had been going through his head when he first approached her because he was nowhere near as drunk as her or her ex boyfriend. But seeing that prick with his hands all over her and hearing her telling him to get off had flicked the switch of his self control almost immediately. Daryl had always had a pretty bad temper and it was something that he had accepted a while ago, and up until that night he had thought that he was managing it quite well.

Clearly, he needed to manage it a bit better. Girls like Beth Greene didn't go for guys like him anyway, but if he at least wanted to stand a chance then he definitely needed to reel it in. The last thing he needed to do was go and scare her off by looking like some over-protective creep who was trying to be her daddy or her brother.

 _Or her boyfriend._

No, not that. Definitely not _that._

He'd be damned if he tried to say that she didn't look like something else that night. Not that she wasn't always beautiful, because she was; but when he had seen her on New Year's Eve - actually _seen_ her in that pretty little thing that was kind of a dress but kind of wasn't - he knew that he had to have her. Like really just _had_ to have her, even if it killed him.

(Which it probably would. Beth probably would.)

Daryl wanted to tell her. He was overcome with the desire to tell her everything he thought about her; like how she always dressed so nice and how her hair looked so soft and how her eyes were so light and how her skin looked so soft. And he wanted to tell her that she was so damned _nice_ and that he loved the sound of her humming to herself and he thought it was cute when she got nervous and bit her lip and tugged on her hair, not awkward. That night, Daryl wanted to tell her that she looked beautiful or beautiful or stunning or maybe even all three.

But whenever he was around Beth, his tongue always felt like it was far too big for his mouth and his hands were always sweaty and his mind always went blank. He always ended up saying some stupid shit that probably confused the hell out of her more than anything.

Daryl was slowly becoming more and more comfortable around Beth, too, and he figured that feeling so at ease around her contributed to his position, too. Daryl supposed that they could probably class each other as friends now, and he had seen her in all sorts of different states.

He had seen her dressed to the nines on New Years Eve with her big eyelashes and her done-up face and her pretty outfit and her high heels.

He had seen her at work in her blue jeans and her little tops and her converse and her lanyard.

He had seen her in the supermarket and at the farm in her little dresses and cardigans and sandals.

 _(Sometimes she wore cowboy boots and sometimes she wore a denim jacket and they were his personal favourites)._

But right now? This was the first time that he had seen Beth looking so _casual._

The tiny blonde was stood outside his apartment door, waiting for him to let her inside. She had a big smile on her face when he pulled open the apartment door and he knew that he had been stood there, frozen in place, practically staring at her for a good ten or fifteen seconds - probably looking like the world's biggest pervert - but there was really nothing that he could do to stop his eyes from roaming over her body when she looked like that.

Before, Daryl had just _thought_ that Beth was trying to kill him.

Now, he knew.

She was stood there in his doorway, waiting patiently as he took in her grey yoga pants and cropped white top with cut-off shoulders that just screamed 'tease'. Her mane of hair was pulled up off her face in a high ponytail, her signature braid running through it and some strands were loose around the bottom of her neck and the frame of her face.

Daryl had the sudden urge to pin her to the wall and let his tongue taste all of the exposed flesh of he neck and upper chest. But he didn't do it.

Beth smiled sweetly up at him and breathed out a _'hey'_ which snapped him out of his trance before it was too late. Daryl stepped to the side and motioned for her to come in with a tilt of his head, shutting the door once she had moved past him. He had basically held his breath when she squeezed through into the apartment and he almost cursed out loud when she brushed against him as she moved inside. Beth walked ahead of him and slowly padded into the living room, her eyes wide as she looked around and took in the unfamiliar surroundings.

Daryl was coming from directly behind her and _shit_ , he tried his hardest to look anywhere but her ass, but it was damn near impossible when she was wearing those fucking things.

The sound of his niece's voice managed to bring him back to reality with a bang and he moved into the kitchen, grabbing Beth a can of diet coke from the fridge. Daryl had eventually plucked up the courage to properly invite her over one evening to help out with Ella and she had readily agreed with an eager nod of the head, but when he mentioned paying her for her trouble, she adamantly refused to accept any money from him. So he had stocked up on some crap that he never had around the house - like cans of diet coke and a few assorted bags of chips and chocolate.

If Ella hadn't been pleased that Beth was coming round before, she definitely was when she saw what her Uncle had bought because of her visit.

* * *

As much as Daryl didn't want to admit it, Beth was actually a really huge help when it came to Ella and having her there sure as hell made his life easier for that one evening. Beth was a natural with this stuff, and Daryl had known that from the fact that she was training to be a teacher and from what he had already seen of her with Ella, but tonight just sort of cemented that knowledge.

Daryl wondered how Beth just always seemed to know exactly what to do and when.

How she knew what to cook for her - Daryl had some chicken in the fridge that she refused to let him make, saying that it would be fun to show Ella how to do it - and when to run her bath and when to read her a story. Beth seemed to just know exactly the right time to do everything for his niece, and Daryl had known that he wasn't exactly great at this whole nurturing business - he had warned Merle and even Ella about it once he found out that Merle had been busted - but Beth was making him realise just how much he really needed to step it up.

Beth offered to tuck Ella into bed and the little girl seemed excited at the idea so Daryl left them both to it. About twenty minutes later, Beth stepped back into the living room and shut Ella's bedroom door behind her as quietly as she could. Daryl's eyes shot up towards her from where he was sitting on the couch, a half empty bottle of water pursed at his lips as he watched her tiptoe over into the living room.

"Hey," she said. She wasn't whispering, but her voice wasn't as loud as usual, either.

Beth sat herself down on the same couch as him. There was a reasonable amount of distance between them but Daryl still froze at the realisation of how close she actually was. All it would take was for him to slide a little bit closer to her and...

"I think she's gonna be flat out any minute now," Beth said, giggling a little.

Daryl couldn't help but smile at the sound and looked at Beth for a long moment. Her lips were closed and turned upwards ever so slightly as she looked back at him with a soft expression, and he could tell from the way that her hands fidgeted with the stitching of her pants that she was nervous. Beth started chewing on her bottom lip and Daryl wondered whether it was something that she was aware that she did or whether it completely slipped her mind.

Either way, the action was tempting. _Teasing._ His gaze honed in on her lips and he knew that she was looking at him again now but he couldn't look away from her mouth. She ran her tongue over her parted lips and Daryl's eyes snapped up to hers instantly.

He cleared his throat a little awkwardly and felt the tips of his ears burning bright red.

"I, er," Daryl started, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. "Wanted to thank you. For t'night."

Daryl was pretty certain that Beth was blushing, too; and she dipped her head a little before brushing some loose strands of hair out of her face and tucking them behind her ear. She looked down at her knees again before glancing back up to Daryl.

"It's no problem," she said, smiling. "I love spending time with Ella. She's a pleasure."

Daryl nodded at that and was at a loss of anything more to say to her so he took another swig of his water, turning his attention to the television for a few minutes as Beth sat beside him. The silence between them was pretty comfortable and easy and Beth adjusted herself so that she was more comfortable, tucking her feet underneath her ass and snuggling her body deeper into the couch. A soft sigh fell from her lips and the sound went straight to his dick, causing him to stiffen uncomfortably.

It dawned on him that this was the first time in a few weeks since they had spent some time together without Ella being there. At the thought, Daryl took another long swig of water which emptied the bottle, and he reached over to place it on the coffee table. He settled back against the couch and tried to concentrate on whatever shitty programme was on television, but he was distracted by the sight of Beth creeping her body ever so closely to him.

Daryl didn't move a muscle and only released the breath that he didn't even notice that he had been holding once Beth had settled her head against his shoulder and had stopped wriggling around, obviously deciding that she was comfortable enough. He wasn't sure how long she was intending to stay for - in all honesty, he had thought that she would want to leave as soon as Ella was asleep - but she seemed content enough sitting here with him and he sure as hell wasn't going to tell her to leave.

The longer she stayed, the better.

It could have been minutes or it could have been hours that they sat there until Beth finally broke the silence by breathing out his name. Daryl turned his head to face her instinctively and only then did he realise just how close they were. Their noses were almost touching and Beth's head was tilted up towards him, her blue eyes flickering between his eyes and his lips. Beth licked her own lips as she gazed up at him before edging her face slightly closer towards him, her pace slow, giving him plenty of time to back out of this if he wanted to.

But _fuck,_ why would he want to? Daryl was a little bit hesitant but that was in his nature; something he had little control over, and something that Beth seemed to accept and - more than anything - understand. She was never pressuring him into anything, not even conversation, and he was grateful for her ability to just _be._

As much as he wanted to claim her lips in his own, Daryl held back and let her control the situation. She looked up into his eyes one final time before her eyelids fluttered to a close and before he could even manage to do the same, her lips were pressing against his. He had known it was coming but the contact surprised him nonetheless and it took him a beat or two to return the pressure against her lips.

When he did, Beth made a little noise at the back of her throat and that noise itself was his undoing. He was still hesitant and unsure, but his hands found their way around her waist and his lips parted slightly as their kisses became less chaste and more passionate. Beth re-positioned herself, never breaking from their kisses as she moved so that she was straddling his lap, and Daryl groaned at the pressure of her resting against his erection.

Daryl felt her smirk into the kiss and before he even knew what she was doing, Beth was grinding herself against him, the thin material of her yoga pants against the bulge in his jeans creating the perfect friction.

 _That little minx._

He groaned again as she rocked into him repeatedly and before he could stop himself, his hands were sliding from where they were resting on her lower back towards her ass. Daryl had tried his best to think of anything _but_ her ass all night long - which was much more difficult than usual when she was wearing those _fucking pants_ \- and he revelled at the opportunity to palm the firm flesh with his hands.

"Fuck, _Beth,"_ he mumbled into her mouth, and Beth responded by kissing him with more force than before. She shifted against him again - the pressure harder this time - and her teeth clashed against his as she moved her tongue into his mouth.

Beth's hands were roaming over his chest and tickling at the back of his neck and running through his hair whilst his continued to explore her ass through her pants. He couldn't tear his hands away from her as their tongues battled against each other, and when they finally broke their kiss, they were both struggling to catch their breath. Beth moved back ever so slightly but Daryl inched forward, resting his forehead against hers as he tried to compose himself.

When his blue eyes opened - a much darker shade of blue than she had ever seen them before - he found that Beth was already looking straight at him, her lips swollen from their kisses and her cheeks tinted a shade of pink. He breathed in deeply as he searched her face for any signs of doubt or hesitancy, but all he saw was her mouth turning upwards as she revealed a breathtaking smile.

It took him a beat or two, but then Daryl was smiling back at her and Beth was giggling as she nuzzled her nose against his.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that," Beth murmured, her lips tickling against his as she spoke.

Daryl smirked at that before he bumped her nose back with his.

"Reckon I've got a good idea, girl," he retorted before capturing her lips once more.

* * *

 **As always, thanks for reading, everyone.**

 **I hope you don't think I've moved it too fast. I mentioned that I didn't want it to be a slow-burn story but it's taken us until chapter 11 to get the kiss so I feel a little bit bad about that. I think it's just because I've explored events in a lot of detail so whole chapters have been based on one day or one thing instead of several and it's ended up just going on longer than I originally thought.**

 **ANYWAY. I actually probably won't get chance to update for a few days now because I'm really busy so please give me lots of reviews to come back to! I love hearing from you all and hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	12. Chapter 12

_**"All the double-edged people and schemes, they make a mess, then go home and get clean.**_

 _ **You're my best friend and we're dancing in a world alone."**_

 _ **-**_ **'A World Alone', Lorde**

* * *

"You've _got_ to be kidding me," Amy gasped, looking up from where she was painting her toenails as she perched on the end of Beth's bed.

Beth blushed slightly and dipped her head, concentrating on her own toenails which were currently drying.

"Has he called you?" Amy prodded.

Beth nodded her head before glancing up from her drying nails (which she was now blowing on, you know - because speeding up the drying process was _incredibly_ important to her) to be greeted with the sight of Amy's broad grin. Beth couldn't help herself as her lips turned upwards slightly, too, but she stopped herself from outright grinning. After all, she was trying to play this off as being no big deal.

Amy raised an eyebrow at her friend expectantly and Beth sighed before she stopped blowing on her nails.

"Yeah, he called," she said, smiling.

"And? What did he say?" Amy asked.

Beth laughed a little before reaching out for the bottle of water that was resting on her bedside.

"Nothin' much," Beth admitted. "Just..."

"Did he ask you out?" Amy interrupted, her eyes wide. "Tell me he asked you out."

Beth bit down on her lip in an attempt to hold back her grin.

"Yeah," she giggled, brushing some of her hair out of her eyes. "Well, eventually. I kinda had to encourage him a bit, but... But yeah. I guess Daryl asked me out."

Amy squealed loudly and Beth was overcome with a sudden sense of giddiness that she hadn't indulged in for a while. It was nice being like this with Amy - since Maggie had left home, the girls had become much closer than before. Sometimes, Beth felt a sense of guilt that she was trying to replace her sister; but she reasoned with herself that it was only natural to make new friends.

Besides, it was Maggie who left, not Beth. Her sister could hardly just expect her to lounge around on her own forever.

"When?" Amy asked, her pitch getting higher and higher. "Where?"

"Friday night, after work," Beth smiled. "Jus' to the diner, I think. There's nowhere else t'go round here."

Amy laughed at that and nodded her head in agreement.

"Guess so," she said before letting out a content sigh. "I still can't believe you _kissed_ him."

* * *

"Anythin' fun planned tonight?" Lori asked.

Beth just shrugged her shoulders. Paranoia swept over her but she reasoned with herself that Lori always asked her that question - especially on the weekends.

Still, it seemed like everyone was on to her and what she was doing that evening. It was only a date - no big deal - but word spread like wildfire in this town and Beth wanted to keep her date with Daryl as private as she possibly could for as long as she possibly could.

"Not really," Beth said.

It wasn't a complete lie. Tonight might not even be fun. Nerve wracking? Sure. But _fun_?

"Oh," Lori said, her smile never faltering. "Oh. Well, have a good evenin', Beth. You make sure you give me a call if you need anything at all."

"I will," Beth promised, waving sweetly as Lori headed out of the store.

* * *

Time felt like it was passing by in slow motion that evening.

Daryl had said that he would pick Beth up from work once her shift had finished so she hadn't drove, and her mama had kindly offered to give her a ride to the store as her classes that morning had been cancelled. Beth had dressed much nicer than she usually bothered to - white high waisted jeans that Maggie had bought her for her birthday and a baby pink crop top with pink sandals to match, and she had even gone all out and bought a mint green flower-print kimono to match her pastel-coloured outfit.

Annette knew where she would be spending the evening before Beth even got a chance to tell her - _"the boy who comes with his niece finally ask you out?" -_ and if her mama knew, then that meant that her daddy knew, too. Her parents were protective; they always had been, especially since she was the youngest of her siblings. But they were also understanding and never overbearing, and Beth was thankful that she could giggle and gossip with her mama about Daryl and how their date went instead of hiding things from her and creeping around her like some of her friends had to do with their mothers.

The last hour was the slowest of them all, and to top it off, there wasn't even anything really to do. Beth had cleaned the shop from head to toe - even the skirting boards and behind the counter and all of the mirrors and windows that they always seemed to miss - and had re-folded and re-hung far too many items to count. Nobody had set foot in the store the whole night, so Beth didn't even have anyone to talk with to help distract her from over-thinking everything to do with Daryl and the date that they were going on.

 _A date._

When she saw his car pull up outside, Beth checked the clock and saw that he was a few minutes early. Still, no customers had graced her with their presence for the last few hours and the parking lot was deserted, so Beth was confident that Lori wouldn't mind her shutting a little bit earlier. Besides, it was only by five minutes.

Beth grabbed her things as quickly as she could, not wanting to keep Daryl waiting longer than he had to, but made sure that she gave herself a once-over in the mirror before she left. Beth had straightened her hair that morning because she couldn't figure out whether he preferred it curly or straight and had applied a little bit more make-up than usual, too.

Before she could worry herself about her appearance anymore than she already had, Beth tore herself away from the mirror and headed out of the store. She locked up quickly and checked that the shutters were properly down and that the doors were firmly shut before she turned around and hopped into Daryl's car, flashing him her best smile as she buckled herself in.

"Hey," she grinned, and he smiled back at her. "Sorry to keep you waiting out here. I always feel like it takes me forever to shut down. Lori is much quicker than I am."

Daryl shook his head dismissively as he started up the engine and set off down the road.

"Nah, s'fine," he said. "Didn't take long anyways."

Beth smiled again at that and filled the ride to the diner with small-talk. She was cringing at herself for it and wished that she would just _relax,_ but her mouth was on overdrive because she was finally here. All of the time that she had spent daydreaming and wishing for this moment and it was finally there, finally happening, and there was no way that Beth was going to be able to relax when _Daryl Dixon_ was driving her to the diner and _taking her on a date._

Albeit, getting here had not necessarily been an easy ride. He was shy and quiet and reserved and very, very private. There was still a lot of things that Beth didn't know about him, but she was eager to learn more. Besides, she already knew that there was no possible way that she could ever get bored of this man and his story. Still, they were finally at a place where Beth felt like this was going somewhere - or really had the potential to - and she had to keep reminding herself that he had only asked her out on a date, not to get married, because she was getting far too carried away with this.

Beth recalled how much Daryl had struggled asking her out in the first place. It had been the day after their kiss and he had called her almost immediately after work, just before he picked Ella up from Andrea's.

* * *

 _Beth giggled down the line._

 _"Daryl," she said, smiling as she spoke. "Are you asking me out?"_

 _There was a long pause, and then Daryl was letting out a sigh._

 _"Yeah," he mumbled into the phone. "Guess I am."_

 _The words he spoke may not have rivalled those of Shakespeare, but they made her heart soar all the same._

 _"Oh," Beth said, her eyes wide and her hands trembling a little, the phone suddenly feeling too heavy in her hands._

 _She hadn't been expecting this from him - not at all. Beth wasn't sure what she had been waiting for, but it hadn't been this. Not a scenario so up-front and blunt. Even though she had pushed him to this, Beth still hadn't expected him to just outright admit it, and now she didn't have a clue what to say._

 _Beth cleared her throat and spoke quickly, not wanting Daryl to mistake her hesitation for rejection._

 _"I'd love to go out with you, Daryl," Beth managed, and she could practically feel Daryl's ears burning at her words._

 _"Really?" he mumbled down the line, but then quickly composed himself. "I, er - how's Friday sound?"_

 _Beth frowned a little._

 _"I work the close on Friday's," Beth informed him. "But I guess we could always do soemthin' after I finish work."_

 _"Sure," he said. "How's 'bout I pick you up from work Friday night an' we can go for dinner or somethin'?"_

 _Beth nodded even though she knew that he couldn't see her._

 _"Yeah," Beth smiled. "I'd like that."_

* * *

The conversation had been a little bit awkward and now Beth was feeling that way again. She put it down to the fact that they were both in new territory with each other here. After all, they rarely spent any time alone together without Ella being there, and now that this was an official _date..._

Well, it just added the pressure.

Daryl pulled up outside the diner and Beth noticed that it was much busier than usual. Daryl must have picked up on the fact that she was frowning because he raised a brow at her.

"'S the matter?" he asked, his bright eyes darting between the packed diner and Beth. "You wanna go somewhere else?"

Beth shook her head quickly, instinctively reaching out to touch his arm. Even though it was still technically winter, Daryl still insisted on wearing those sleeveless flannel shirts and she couldn't help but think of how warm he was.

In all honesty, Beth wasn't completely sure how it was scientifically possible for him to be that warm when she was absolutely freezing.

Both of them jumped at the unexpected contact, but Beth didn't move her hand and Daryl didn't say anything about it. The only acknowledgement he gave to her touch (other than his initial flinch) was to glance down at her pale hand resting on his bicep before he looked back up to her eyes.

"No," Beth said, surprised at how confident her voice sounded despite the fact that she was completely flustering.

God, she was acting like such a fan girl.

"No, I - here's fine."

Daryl gave her a questioning look, but then Beth dropped her hand from his arm and un-fastened her seat belt before reaching over to grab the door handle. After a beat, Daryl copied her movements and shut the car door behind him, walking round to Beth's side once he had locked it.

Beth tried not to think too much about the way that he laced his fingers in to hers before leading the way into the diner just like she tried not to think too much about all of the faces - most familiar, but other's not so much - who were staring at them as the waitress showed them to a corner booth.

* * *

If she was being honest with herself, Beth really wasn't all that surprised that their date ended with her straddling Daryl's lap in the driver's seat of his car outside of his apartment block.

It was very reminiscent of the way that their first kiss had ended up, only this time they were pressed inside his car and so they didn't have nearly enough space to work with. Beth had been desperate to get her hands on him all evening and was pleased that she had even managed to make it this far.

Dinner itself had been much more of a success than she could have hoped for. Sure, it had been a little awkward at first, but they managed to get more comfortable around each other and Beth had wished that the night would just carry on forever. She became less and less aware of all of the eyes that were watching them and only focused on one pair: his.

Beth had also been relieved that Daryl didn't comment about what she ordered. She remembered when she had gone out with Jimmy and how he used to always pull his face and raise his eyebrows and ask whether she was sure she wanted that much to eat? Because the salad sounded much nicer than the burgers did anyway, and wouldn't she prefer a water instead of a full-fat coke? It wasn't that she wanted to compare any of her ex-boyfriend's to Daryl, but still - she couldn't change what she had experienced.

Sometimes, she was still a little self-conscious about making decisions like that in front of men. She knew of plenty of her friends who didn't like eating in front of their boyfriends because they didn't want them to think that they were greedy or fat. Daryl didn't seem like he thought any of those things about Beth. If anything; he seemed _impressed_ when she chose to order her regular burger and extra fries with a large coke, and she couldn't help but beam at him when she finished it all.

Once they had eaten, Daryl had offered to give her a ride home; but Beth had sweetly suggested that they went back to his place for something to drink - after all, Ella was having a sleepover at Andrea's that night (it seemed easier for Daryl to arrange that the girls do that instead of picking her up in the middle of the night and by the sounds of it, he had promised Andrea that she could return the favour whenever she wanted), and a free place seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up.

She had known full well what it was that she was suggesting to him, and when Daryl swallowed nervously and grunted out an _"alright",_ Beth knew that she had this man wrapped around her little finger. Still, she didn't want to push this too far.

After all, this _was_ only their first date.

But her body seemed to have other ideas and wasn't exactly too worked up about the fact that Beth had only been on _one_ date with Daryl because her hips were rolling before she could stop them and she was grinding into the hardness that quickly made itself known through the material of his dark jeans. Daryl groaned at the sensation but the noise was swallowed by Beth's mouth as her tongue continued to battle against his.

Her movements were becoming bolder and braver and more determined, but in being that way Beth forgot all about the crammed space that they were sharing. Somehow, whilst she was rocking herself on top of him, her back managed to press against the steering wheel hard enough to make the horn honk loudly and both Beth and Daryl were surprised at the sound.

Beth made more of a show of her surprise than Daryl did. She shrieked loudly and broke their kiss, her eyes wide and her heart pounding more because she was scared than because she was aroused. As Beth jumped at the noise, she moved impossibly closer towards him; their bodies pressed together in all sorts of different ways. Her nose was brushing against his and his head was ever so slightly tilted so that he could look at her from where she was sat on his thighs.

Both of them were laughing before either could decide which one had started giggling first. Beth shook her head and tried to cover her mouth in order to stifle her laughter, but it was no use. Daryl's chuckle stopped before her own laughter died down, but he was still smiling at her when she eventually calmed down.

"Maybe we should go inside," Beth suggested after a long moment of looking at him, still giggling a little as she spoke.

Daryl nodded his head at her and cleared his throat before nudging forward ever so slightly so that he could tug at the door handle and push the car door open. Beth looked at him again and waited for him to say something before she accepted his silent invitation.

"After you," he said, motioning with his head for her to climb off his lap and exit the vehicle.

Beth didn't waste any time in doing as he said and waited for him to lead the way into the apartment complex, trying her hardest to ignore the way her heart was pounding in her chest.

She tried to tell herself that it was still out of shock from the sound of the car horn going off, but she struggled to keep up with that thought the farther away from the car that they got.

* * *

 **Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far and also everyone who has read the Bethyl oneshot that I posted a few nights ago called 'Want You To Want Me'. I don't know if I'll go anywhere with that yet or just leave it as it is, but if you haven't checked it out, I'd love it if you did and if you left me a review on there, too!**

 **Sorry if this chapter was a little bit jumpy. I was debating splitting it into two because there were so many scenes to pack into it, but I thought that it didn't work out too badly in the end. But t** **hanks for reading and please review to let me know what you think!**


	13. Chapter 13

_**"Back and forth we sway like branches in a storm,**_

 _ **Change the weather, still together when it ends."**_

 _ **-**_ **'Sunday Morning', Maroon 5**

* * *

 _"We ain't gotta do anythin', Beth."_

 _Beth bit her lip and tucked a strand of hair behind hear ear; a nervous habit that she couldn't get rid of, even as she was lay there beneath Daryl._

 _"It's just that I -"_

 _"Stop," he said, his eyes boring right into her own._

 _Beth's mouth was still ajar from where she had been cut off through her sentence, but she shut it a few seconds later as Daryl held her gaze. The way that he was looking at her made her heartbeat thrum louder and louder in her ears, and she was sure that he would be able to feel her pulse thrumming against his fingers considering he was still holding on to both of her wrists._

 _At first, his face had been hard, but Daryl's expression softened the longer that he looked at her. Beth had never seen him look at her like that before and she couldn't hide the strangled sound that came from her throat as a result of it._

 _There was just_ something _about this man and the emotions that he elicited in her that Beth couldn't understand - but she wasn't even sure that she wanted to._

 _"Don't gotta explain yourself t'me, Beth," Daryl said._

 _His tone was as soft as his expression and the sound threatened to make her melt beneath him._

 _"Already told you. We_ ain't _gotta do anythin'."_

 _It was usually Daryl who struggled with words whilst Beth did the talking for both of them, but for the first time since she had met him, their roles were reversed. As much as she wanted to say something to him, she couldn't find the words; and Beth hoped that he could see everything that she was thinking and feeling for him in her gaze._

 _Slowly, Daryl's hands loosened around her wrists and Beth's arms were free to move once more. They immediately moved without much thought and slowly reached out to cup his jaw. No more words were spoken between them for a long while, but Beth decided that night that she would be more than happy if all she ever had to do for the rest of her life was kiss Daryl Dixon._

* * *

"He seems nice," Amy said as Daryl walked away.

The girls had met for lunch in town and had decided to go browsing the shops (even though there was a limited selection of stores around) and had bumped into Daryl on his lunch break. He had been heading towards the sandwich bar and had looked more than a little surprised at bumping into the girls.

Beth hadn't planned on her best friend meeting Daryl this early on - besides, they weren't even officially together or anything - but she supposed that you couldn't always plan these things: sometimes, life just happened. So she tried not to freak out about it and introduced them both, using eye contact to silently plead with Amy not to give anything away.

The last thing she wanted to do was scare him off.

Thankfully, Amy had read her like a book (her daddy was always saying that her face gave everything away) and didn't say anything _too_ embarrassing. Just a bit of _"so_ this _is the famous Daryl Dixon"_ and _"Beth has told me_ so _much about you"_ but Beth reasoned with herself that Daryl hadn't looked too bothered about the fact that Amy had made it clear that Beth had spoken about him to her.

She couldn't help but wonder whether he had told anyone about her.

"He is," Beth said, trying not to sound too much like a love-sick teenager.

Amy gave her a knowing look and Beth couldn't help but giggle at her friend.

"Kind of easy on the eyes, too," Amy said, and Beth just shook her head as she continued to laugh.

"How did I know that would be one of the first things you said to me about Daryl?" Beth asked, and Amy just shrugged her shoulders before popping some gum into her mouth.

* * *

The next time that Daryl brought Ella to the farm, Beth felt a sense of nervousness that she hadn't felt before.

Because of course she had been nervous around Daryl before.

She had been nervous the first time that they had spoken because she didn't want to make a fool of herself.

She had been nervous the first time that he gave her a ride home and they had been sat so close to one another that Beth wondered how she was even breathing normally.

She had been nervous the first time that she went round to his apartment in the tightest pair of yoga pants that she could find and hoped that her her plan to finally kiss him worked because she wasn't sure how much longer she could wait.

And most recently, Beth had been nervous on their first date because things were actually starting to happen between them and it wasn't all just in her mind anymore.

But this was a different sort of nervous to any other nervous that she had been because for once, she wasn't nervous because of Daryl. This was because of Ella.

Ella was young and impressionable and even though she was coping better than could be expected living in this new town with her Uncle, she was still only six years old and still very vulnerable. It didn't take a genius to work out that Ella looked up to Beth and more than anything, Beth didn't want to confuse or upset her. If things didn't work out with Daryl then it would be Ella who suffered more than anyone else and the last thing Beth wanted to do was mix up her life a little bit more.

So the whole time that the Dixon's were there, Beth kept her distance from Daryl.

Not obviously so; she wasn't exactly a mile away from him at all times, but she made sure that she didn't linger around him too much. It wasn't a conversation that the two of them had had, but Beth felt it was more of a silent agreement - a sort of understanding between them - that they wouldn't tell Ella yet.

It was only when the little girl was passed out in the passenger seat of the car and Daryl was finally alone with Beth on the porch steps of the farmhouse that Beth allowed herself to wander closer towards the older man. Daryl smirked down at her as she edged closer and she didn't resist the urge to lean up on her tiptoes and press a chaste kiss to his lips.

"How've you been?" Beth asked, her tone soft as she looked up at him.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright," he told her, and Beth nodded.

She hadn't seen much of him that week because he had been busy working and she had been trying to get all of her assignments finished a little bit earlier than her deadlines, which were all around the end of March. Now that he was here and having to go so soon, Beth realised just how much she had missed him.

As much as she wanted to tell him that, she didn't. It was too early for that.

"An' you?" Daryl asked, dipping his head a little bit. "You been okay?"

"Yeah," Beth said, smiling a little as he twisted a piece of her hair in his hands. "I've been good. Busy, but good."

Daryl nodded his head at that and looked much more relaxed around her than he had done just a few weeks before when they were in the same position. There was a few seconds of silence that passed between them but Beth didn't make a move to speak because it looked like Daryl wanted to say something.

Finally, he found the words and they rushed out of his mouth whilst he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Wanna come round tomorrow night?" Daryl asked.

Beth's eyes shot up to meet his from where she had been looking at Ella in the car and she smiled brightly up at him.

"I'd love to," she told him honestly.

Daryl looked a little uncomfortable then and dropped her hair from his fingers before shoving his hands into his pockets.

"I'll call you," he said, and Beth nodded before standing up on her tiptoes and pressing another kiss to his lips before he retreated to his car and drove away.

It didn't take long for Annette to appear on the porch beside her. Beth bit back her smile as she looked out on to the farm land.

"I'm guessin' you're a little smitten."

Beth cleared her throat and ducked her head before turning round to face her mother.

"Mama," she said, her tone sounding more playful than warning.

Annette just laughed.

"He ask to see you again?" the older woman asked, and Beth nodded her head.

"Tomorrow," she said, and Annette's smile widened.

"Not wastin' any time then," she said, chuckling as Beth blushed. "Come on inside. I'll fix us up some cocoa an' you can tell me _all_ about it."

* * *

 **I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and who has favourited/followed this story, too. Your support and enthusiasm makes it so much easier to be motivated when writing and I'm so grateful to everyone who takes the time to let me know what they think of what I write.**

 **I'm a little worried that this seems more like a filler chapter than anything else, but I just wanted to give an insight into Beth's thoughts with Ella and also the way in which her relationship with Daryl is developing.**

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Bit of a simple chapter really, but I wanted to push things along between them.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 ** _"Don't it feel good when I touch on it? Wouldn't it be nice if all night I was in you?_**

 ** _Come kiss me, come with me, down the hall to my bedroom:_**

 ** _Tonight, we'll be making love faces."_**

 **\- 'Love Faces', Trey Songz**

* * *

 _"I can't stop thinkin' about you," Beth whispered against Daryl's neck._

 _He was unable to hold back the low moan that escaped from his parted lips as Beth nipped and sucked at the sensitive skin there; alternating between sliding her tongue over his exposed flesh and pulling it between her teeth as she made a trail from his jaw to his collarbone. They both let out a hiss when Beth pushed herself closer against him, brushing her core against the predominant bulge in his faded blue jeans as she did so._

 _It wasn't like he was much for talking at all and Beth seemed to understand and accept that about him just fine, but the pleasurable sensations of her placing open-mouthed kisses against his skin and grinding on top of him seemed to flick a trigger inside him that he didn't even know he had. Suddenly, Daryl changed from the guy who usually didn't know what to say and became the guy whose thoughts came pouring out of his mouth before he even had an opportunity to filter them._

 _"Can't stop thinkin' bout you, girl," he mumbled, and Beth pushed herself against him once more as he slowly breathed out the words right into her ear. "You don't know jus' how much you're in my damned head, an' I -"_

 _"Daryl."_

 _"- don't even wanna get you out."_

 _His hands were moving from where they were gripping at her ass underneath her dress before he even realised what he was doing, and the next thing he knew, his knuckles were brushing across her core through her panties and tights. Daryl hesitated for a brief moment when he realised where he was going with this: if they didn't stop now, then they probably wouldn't stop at all, and he wasn't entirely sure how confident and comfortable he felt about that._

 _Still, Beth seemed to have other ideas than stopping as she mewled at his touch, her eyes fluttering shut and her lips forming a small little 'o'. This whole situation was becoming far too heated and far too dangerous, and soon Beth was grinding herself into his palm, her head buried in the crook of his neck as she groaned out a "_ please _" over and over and over again._

 _It was getting to the point where he couldn't say no to her - how the fuck was he ever supposed to say no to Beth Greene? - and Daryl tried his best to snap out of it._

 _"Beth," he groaned as her hands began to fumble awkwardly with his belt buckle. The sound of her fussing with it had brought him back to reality (somewhat so, anyway) and Daryl's blue eyes were wide with realisation as she tried to popped open the first button of his pants. "We should..._ Fuck. _"_

 _He couldn't help but lose himself ever so slightly when her hands dipped into his pants and her fingers brushed against the waistline of his boxers._

 _"We shouldn't do this, Beth."_

 _What the fuck was he even saying? Of course they should do this. Everything in his body was screaming at him to do this; to forget about whatever he was thinking and just go for it. Merle's voice in his head was only egging him on further, the little devil on his shoulder that never seemed to want to leave him alone._

 _"_ She's gaggin' for it, baby brother _," Merle's voice drawled, echoing through his mind. "_ Be rude not to give the lady what she wants _."_

 _Beth paused in her motions for a moment before silencing Daryl with a long kiss. When their tongues brushed against one another's once more, Beth attempted to move her hands again and continue with her exploration of his body, but Daryl's larger hands seemed to come out of nowhere to cover hers and rested firmly over them, preventing her from moving._

 _She looked at him in the eyes for a long moment as she contemplated his words before she slowly shook her head from side to side._

 _"No," Beth said, her voice barely above a whisper as she addressed him. "No. Maybe we should."_

 _The hesitation wasn't just in her choice of words; Daryl could hear it in her tone, and his only response was to quirk a brow at her in a questioning manner. Beth seemed to immediately understand exactly what he was thinking because she quickly corrected herself._

 _"Not maybe," she said, her voice rushed and a little louder now. "No. We_ should _do this. Daryl, I..."_

 _Beth trailed off, her light eyes casting downwards towards the floor so that she wasn't looking at him anymore. In fact, she was looking anywhere but. Daryl had done a lot of things in the past before that he wasn't exactly proud of and he made a deal with himself that there wasn't going to be a chance in hell that he would go through with this - with anything at all - if Beth didn't make it clear that she was one hundred percent ready for it._

 _It didn't take a genius to work out that she was a virgin; and Daryl wasn't exactly and expert at being gentle, either. As much as he had to teach her things, Beth also had as much - if not more - to teach him, and there was no way he could go about any of it if Beth wasn't more than willing._

 _After what felt like hours (but in reality, was only mere seconds), Beth's eyes finally met Daryl's once again; all hooded and clouded with lust._

 _When she finally spoke, her voice breathy and moan-y, he knew from the way that the sound alone went straight to his cock that he was fucked._

 _"I want this. Daryl, I want_ you."

* * *

"Good morning," Beth said in a sing-song voice, much chirpier than he was expecting her to be at quarter to eight in the morning.

Daryl groaned and rubbed his hands over his face before he sat up in bed, still groggy from sleep and not quite wide-awake yet. Beth had sure as hell tired him out last night and he was glad that he wasn't working today or he may have just had to use one of his holiday days because he was pretty certain he wouldn't be moving out of his apartment unless he had absolutely no choice in the matter.

"Mornin'," Daryl said, not bothering to even attempt to stifle his yawn.

Beth was lay on her back, her long hair fanned out around her on the pillow as she smiled up at him, looking more like an angel than she ever had done before. Daryl almost chuckled at the innocent thought of it because after last night, he was pretty sure that if Beth was an angel, then she was the most devilish angel that he knew.

She rolled slightly so that her head was resting in her lap and Daryl instinctively leaned back against the headboard of the bed, allowing himself to become more comfortable where he was sat. His hands were placed awkwardly by his sides and Beth reached out and grasped one with her own, guiding it up to her head with a shy smile. Daryl wasn't quite sure exactly what it was that she wanted from him, but he began to massage at her scalp and run his fingers through her hair as tenderly as he could manage, and Beth practically purred along as he did so.

Daryl had never been good with intimacy or affection, but he had been trying much harder for the sake of his niece; and now he was trying for the sake of Beth, too. He remembered how he had thought that she had a lot to teach him last night, and now that they were here the morning after, Daryl realised just how right he was about that.

"How are you feelin'?" Beth asked in a soft voice, and the uncertainty that he heard there caused him to frown.

 _Why did she sound so unsure?_

"Tired," he said, because it was the truth.

Beth giggled at that, and Daryl half-smiled at the sound. Her light laughter faded off after a moment and Beth cleared her throat before she spoke again, staring straight up at him as the words fell freely from her mouth.

"Do you... Do you regret it? Last night?"

The question threw him off guard and Daryl was certain that he must have looked like an absolute fool as he stared down at her, his brows knotted together and blue eyes narrowed, lips pursed in a thin line and his jaw tight. He probably looked like he was pissed at her for asking him anything like that and he would have had to have been blind to miss the clear signs of panic that were beginning to paint onto her features.

Daryl shook his head before he answered, trying to search inside himself for the right words. It had all seemed so much easier last night; but now that they were here the morning after, it seemed impossible to explain to her exactly what it was that he was feeling. Hell, he wasn't even sure himself what he was feeling, but if there was any emotion that he could recognise in a heartbeat, it was either anger or regret - and neither of them struck within him when he thought about what had happened the night before.

"Nah," he said, and Beth looked a little bit relieved at that.

 _Does she?_ he wondered, and not for the first time in the last twenty four hours, Beth seemed to be able to read his mind. She smiled up at him - not a sensual smile or a shy one, but a _kind,_ genuine smile - and reached up to brush some of his hair back from his face. It hadn't even been that long since he last had it cut - maybe a month or two - but it grew at a stupidly fast rate and he could never keep up with it.

"I don't regret it, either," she said, and Daryl nodded his head at that when he realised that she wasn't going to say anything more about it.

They remained like that for quite some time; her lay across him with her head in his lap, him with his fingers running through her hair. Both of them knew that they would need to talk about this in more depth - whatever 'this' even was - because it wasn't just about them, it was also about the little girl who was currently fast asleep in the room next door.

Still, for now, there was none of that. They could dwell on those questions later. For now, it was just Beth and Daryl, not saying a word - just enjoying one another's company, and that was more than enough.

* * *

 **Ended on a bit of a fluffy note. Actually, this whole chapter was a bit fluffy. Apologies for all you smut-lovers, I feel like I cut you off a bit there and was a bit of a tease, but there will be plenty of that to come. I didn't want it to take over this whole chapter.**

 **I hope you don't think that I've rushed them sleeping together at all. I know I keep doing time jumps in this story (so this is set the day after the last chapter - I just skipped the part where Beth first came round to the apartment and instead fast-forwarded to later in the evening when they slept together for the first time) but I did say I didn't want it to be slow burn and it's eventually taken fourteen chapters for them to finally sleep together, and I kind of might consider that slow-burn.**

 **If you do, then I'm sorry! I seriously didn't plan on it taking this long, honestly. Besides, it's not like Beth has known him for two minutes; they've known each other months by this point and it was coming anyway so it just sort of... happened. I think that it's only natural as a relationship progresses; and even though in this fic Beth was a virgin, I don't think there necessarily has to be a big stigma about 'we need to talk about it first', if that makes sense.**

 **Beth decided she was ready when she felt comfortable being that way and he didn't question her on it (much) because at the end of the day, she's a grown woman and he trusts her judgement in knowing what she wants. I hope you agree with that plot line anyway and don't think I rushed into it.**

 **Quitting with my rambling now! So thanks for reading and please review to let me know what you think!**

 **(Also, if you haven't already seen, I've published the first chapters of my sequel to Only One and I've also started *another* AU Bethyl fic too, so feel free to check those out, too!)**


	15. Chapter 15

Thursday night at Lori's was as quiet as ever, with Beth spending the majority of her time looking over her notes that she had made in one of her classes that same morning, running a highlighter pen over parts that she thought were particularly useful or important. The end of her college year was quickly approaching and that meant one thing: assingments and exams.

Unfortunately, their clashing schedules meant that Beth hadn't seen Daryl since the weekend. She couldn't help but blush every time she thought about the night that they had spent together and every part of her was aching to see him, but he had been working overtime during that particular week and all of the extra hours that he spent at work earning double pay left him with very little time for her.

She tried not to dwell too much on it; speaking with him regularly over text during the day whenever he got a free minute (Beth had long since mastered the art of texting under her desk) and Daryl had also been making an effort to call her every night once he had put Ella to bed. Beth thought that it was sweet of him to make the effort for her, but she often spent only several minutes talking to him before she encouraged him to go to bed due to the fact that his words slowly began to slur and jumble and he started to make less and less sense on account of his exhaustion.

Beth knew that Daryl had his doubts about how he was doing in terms of raising Ella, but she tried her hardest to reassure him that there were no books that explained how best to raise your six year old niece, living as a full-time single Uncle and also balancing work and a social life, too. Daryl may have been pretty tough on himself a lot of the time, but Beth completely admired him. The way he priotirised his niece above all else struck a chord with her and Beth loved knowing that he was so family-orientated.

"Dixon's look after their own," he had said to her once when she asked him how he felt about caring for Ella.

Daryl had answered her question so quickly and matter-of-factly that she easily understood that he wasn't frustrated or annoyed with looking after the little girl - he simply accepted it and got on with it; not seeing taking her under his wing as an option, more of a responsibility, and obligation.

Considering Beth wasn't expecting to see Daryl until Saturday evening (he had invited her over for dinner and to spend the night again and after the last night that they had spent together, why on earth would she ever decline such an invitation?) she was caught very off guard when he strolled through the entrance of Lori's five minutes before closing.

Beth's light blue eyes went wide when she looked up from where she was leaning over the till point highlighting her work to get a better view of who had entered the store this close to closing time and couldn't help but grin at the sight of Daryl. He was moving closer towards her and she immediately straightened up and moved around the till so that she was stood directly in front of the cash register, the bright smile still plastered across her face.

"Hey, you," she said, and his lips offered her a hint of a smile. "What are you doin' here?" she asked, genuinely curious, looking around the store in search of Ella. She usually accompanied him everywhere.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders before leaning against one of the clothing stands.

"Remembered you sayin' you were gonna get the bus home 'cause o' college this mornin'," he told her. "Figured I'd come pick you up an' take you home."

Beth let out a gentle sigh at that, her lips still turned upwards in a soft smile as she looked up at him, tilting her head to the side just so.

"Daryl," she said, drawing out the syllables of his name. "You don't have to do that. I don't mind gettin' the bus home."

Daryl shook his head.

"Ain't no trouble," he told her simply. "'Sides, don't want you gettin' those things, anyway. Never know who's around."

Beth let out a giggle at that.

"Daryl, we live in a town where everyone knows everyone. I kinda think that statement is just a tiny bit incorrect."

Daryl smirked at that, his eyes narrowing playfully as he spoke with a mock-authorative tone.

"Quit yer sassin', girl," he practically growled, and Beth giggled once again. "I'll be outside in the car, alrigh'?"

Beth nodded her head up and down quickly before Daryl backed away from her, nodding his head at her once before he made a move to leave the shop. Before he could open the door of the entrance, Beth called after him, her arm slightly outstretched as if she was going to attempt to grab him despite the fact that he was several yards away by now.

"Thank you," she said as Daryl looked at her over his shoulder, his expression unreadable. All he did was nod his head in acknowledgement before he opened the door and stepped out, making the distance to where he had parked up his car in just a few quick strides.

Beth went about closing the store as quickly as she could, wasting no time in grabbing her belongings once the doors were closed and locked and quickly placed the cash from the register into a brown envelope, taking a twenty dollar bill for herself to cover her wages before sealing the envelope shut. Beth double checked that she had her purse and her phone inside of her handbag before she let herself out of the store, locking the doors behind her and depositing the keys into her bag.

Whilst she was locking the doors, Daryl had pulled out of his space and driven the car right outside of the store. Daryl waited until she had placed her bags at her feet and buckled her seat belt until he put the car back into gear, but before he had chance to set off, she leaned over and closed the distance between them so that she could place a kiss on his cheek. She moved her head back slightly and Daryl turned his head towards her, locking eyes with her. Beth took his movement as an invitation and dipped her head back towards him once again, this time placing a kiss on his lips.

"You're very sweet, comin' down here to take me home," Beth said, and Daryl shrugged his shoulders at her. Beth grinned at his lack of response and settled back down in her seat as he drove towards the farm.

Daryl was glancing over in her direction every few seconds and Beth wondered whether he liked the baby pink sundress that she was wearing. She had spotted how his gaze had lingered on her exposed legs when he first came into the store and saw her wearing it, and now that she was sat down in the car, the dress had hitched a little bit further up her thighs than it naturally fell. If she was riding with anyone else, Beth would have definitely tugged the hem of the dress down so not to expose too much flesh; but since it was Daryl, she was more than comfortable showing a little skin.

After all, it was just a few days ago that he was running his tongue over the bare skin of her thighs. It wasn't anything that he hadn't seen before.

Just because the season of spring was only just coming towards them didn't mean that it was still chilly - in fact, the heat was hardly making a slow return towards them; and Beth's pale skin suffered more than anyone else's that she knew. She never fussed about putting on sun lotion - it was something that she just had to do and never thought too much about it, but she did struggle to cover the strong smell of it on her skin.

She hoped that she put on enough perfume in the morning to cover the strong scent of sun lotion.

"How's everythin' with Ella?" Beth asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

"She's doin' alright," Daryl told her, meeting her eyes for a brief moment. "Been askin' for you."

"Really?" Beth asked, her tone sounding hopeful and whiny at the same time.

She was happy that Ella was asking about her, but she was also sad that it came to that. In all honesty, Beth had been pining after the little girl. She had decided not to see Ella on Sunday after she had spent the night, deciding that it was probably too soon for Ella to get suspicions about what she was doing with her Uncle. The last thing Beth or Daryl wanted to do was confuse Ella, and Beth offered stability as a friend, so she had agreed with Daryl that that was how things would stay for now.

If things between the two of them became more serious, then Beth was sure that they would let Ella know. But for now, Beth was simply enjoying getting to know Daryl more as the man she was dating without having to add the pressure of his niece knowing about them.

"Yeah," Daryl said simply as he pulled into the dirt road that led up to the farm.

"Tell her I'll see her this weekend," Beth said, and Daryl nodded at that.

"Didn't know if you'd want me to," he told her, not looking at her this time. Beth recognised the uncertainty in his voice and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Well," she said, clearing her throat. "Maybe I could just come round and make dinner on Saturday. You know, for all of us. And then maybe we could... I don't know. Watch a movie or something? When Ella goes to bed?"

Daryl pulled up outside the farm and shut off the engine, finally turning to face her and offering her with a view of the playful smirk that was resting on his lips.

"Watch a movie, huh?" he said, and Beth blushed immediately at his words.

"Yeah," she said, sounding much more confident than she felt. "What else would we do?"

Daryl chuckled at that and Beth giggled a little too before she pushed herself forward in her seat once more, closing the gap between them and kissing him once more. This time, their embrace was far from chaste. Daryl wrapped one of his hands around the back of her neck and fisted it into her hair, and Beth took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, running her tongue along his bottom lip before he opened his mouth and allowed her deeper access.

Beth hummed in approval when his tongue brushed against hers and she began to feel the pressure building between her thighs once again. Instinct took over and before she had chance to worry about what she was doing, Beth was pushing herself onto him so that she was straddling him in his seat.

The position that she found herself in was a little awkward and uncomfortable, her legs bending around in all sorts of ways so that she could fit against him, but the relief she found when she pushed her heat against the hardness in his jeans was worth it. Daryl moaned as she continually rubbed herself against him. The friction that her movements were creating was delicious, but it wasn't enough. She grabbed at the hand that Daryl had rested on top of her hip and guided it underneath her dress, encouraging him to rub her from above her underwear.

It may not have been the skin on skin contact that she craved from him when she initially moved his hand, but Beth threw her head back and moaned anyway, enjoying the feeling as he rubbed his palm against the fabric of her underwear. Beth was glad that she had shaved the night before and that she was wearing a half decent pair of panties - a pair of simple white lace ones, but they were a much better choice than some of the ones she owned that were probably more suitable for a ten year old.

Daryl had to feel the wetness that was quickly dampening her underwear as he pressed sloppy, open-mouth kisses to her neck, but he never moved his hand from above her underwear. At first, Beth was frustrated, but as she moved her hips in rhythm with his hand, she found that the familiar pressure that was building inside of her was returning, and she began to shudder as her abdominal muscles contracted.

Daryl pushed down on her harder than he had been before, and Beth whimpered at the feeling as she ground herself harder against his palm. Her movements were frantic and desperate as she chased her release, and it was his words murmured into her ear - _"come for me, girl," -_ that finally pushed her over the edge.

Beth was grateful that Daryl gave her a few moments to calm herself down before he retracted his hand from between her legs, but she whimpered at the loss of the contact regardless. She was panting heavily, her eyes still closed as she leaned forward and rested her head into the crook of his neck, snuggling against him whilst she waited for her breathing to even out. Daryl's hand loosened from where it was holding her hair and fell down her back, wrapping around her waist along with his other arm and holding her close.

She couldn't be sure how long they stayed like that for and Beth was sure that she would soundly fall asleep nestled against him in the drivers seat if she could, but her leg began to cramp up and she winced in pain as she stretched it out, her palms flat against his chest as she pushed herself upright. Daryl met her gaze for a long few moments before she reached down and kissed him, softly and slowly this time.

"You best get goin'," he mumbled against her lips, and Beth sighed as she nuzzled her nose against his.

He was right and she knew it. She had class early in the morning and still had to wash and dry her hair before she went to bed.

"I know," she said, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips before pulling away from him again. "I wish I didn't have to, though."

Daryl was quiet for a moment before he let out a sigh of his own.

"Me too."

Beth smiled at that before she reached over between them and grabbed her bag from where she had positioned it before. She placed it over her shoulder whilst Daryl opened up the drivers side door for her.

"I'll see you Saturday?" Beth said, and Daryl nodded his head at her once.

"You bet," he responded, and Beth placed one more kiss to his cheek before she climbed over him, shutting the door behind her and waving at him as she made her way up the porch steps of the farm house.

Beth made a beeline for the front door and watched as Daryl waited until she unlocked it before he put the car into gear and drove away. Beth stepped over the threshold and locked the front door to the house behind her, making her way up the stairs towards her bedroom.

"You're home late," Annette commented as she stepped out of the bathroom just as Beth placed her hand on the doorknob of her room. The unexpected sound of her mother's voice caused Beth to jump slightly, and Annette giggled at the sight.

"I am?" Beth said, trying her best to sound nonchalant.

"Well, you wouldn't be if you would have got the bus," Annette said as she made her way towards the bedroom that she shared with Hershel. "But I'm sure I heard Daryl's car dropping you off outside..."

Beth swallowed as she opened up her bedroom door and chose to shrug her shoulders.

"He picked me up from work," she told her mother. "We were just talkin' for a while before I had to leave."

Annette gave Beth a knowing smile over her shoulder before she walked into her bedroom, choosing not to say anything else to her daughter as she settled herself in bed. Beth nibbled on her bottom lip as she stepped into her own room, her cheeks tinting a shade of pink as she realised that her mama - and probably her daddy, too - had a good idea of what she had just been getting up to right outside their home.

Beth placed her handbag onto her bed and wasted little time in grabbing some pajamas from her drawer and stripping out of her damp underwear and sundress, thinking to herself about how a long shower would probably do her some good.

* * *

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	16. Chapter 16

**_"They take their shots, but we're bulletproof; and you know for me, it's always you._**

 ** _In the dead of night, your eyes so green; and I know for you, it's always me."_**

 ** _-_ 'I Know Places', Taylor Swift**

* * *

 _"Where have you been?" Ella asked, the tone of her voice causing Beth to feel overwhelmed with a sense of guilt._

 _"I've been busy," Beth began to explain, genuinely sorry for being absent from the little girls life for what had seemed like forever. "I've had a lot of work to do over the last few weeks, but I've handed most of it in now, and soon I'll be finished for the summer. Then you'll have me all t yourself."_

 _Beth placed her satchel down onto Daryl's kitchen counter as she explained her predicament to Ella, hoping that she understood the predicament that she had been in. After all, Beth wasn't actually lying - she had been so busy with working at Lori's and perfecting all of her college work that she had barely even found the time to speak to Daryl over the phone, never mind actually see him - or Ella, for that matter - in person._

 _The six year old seemed pleased with Beth's comment, a wide smile_

 _Ella beamed at that, but then her face quickly fell into a frown._

 _"But what about Uncle Daryl?" Ella asked, her little eyebrows knotting together in confusion._

 _Beth's cheeks immediately began to burn at the mention of her boyfriend's name and her eyes instantly shot over to where the man in question was stood leaning against the kitchen wall, the hint of a smirk on his lips at the knowledge that it was Beth who was having to deal with this awkward situation and not him. Granted, Daryl had informed her that Ella had been asking a lot of awkward questions lately about the relationship that Daryl and Beth had and if Beth had to take a guess at what was going on, she would say that Ella was definitely on to them._

 _"What about him, sweetheart?" Beth asked, stifling a giggle at Daryl's teasing expression and tried her hardest to ignore his presence entirely, focusing as best she could on his niece who was currently looking up at her with soft eyes._

 _"Well, don't I have to share you with him?"_

 _Ella's tone was very much matter-of-fact, as if what she was saying to Beth was the most obvious question in the world for her to ask. The red colour of Beth's cheeks darkened impossibly more as she stuttered, struggling to find a suitable answer for the six year old._

 _"Erm... I mean, well, I suppose that - I -"_

 _"Hey girls," Daryl said as he pushed himself away from the wall and strolled further into the kitchen area, placing both of his hands on either side of Ella's shoulders as he stood behind her. Ella tilted her head back so that she could look up at her Uncle as he spoke. "What d'ya say to Chinese for dinner tonight?"_

 _A grin spread across Ella's face at the mention of take-away food and Beth's shoulders sagged with relief as she realised what it was that he was doing._

 _Clearly, Daryl had mastered the art of distraction over the course of the last few months of caring for his niece, and Beth had never appreciated him more than she did in that moment._

 _"Yes, please!" Ella said, her voice loud and excited._

 _Beth smiled as she watched Daryl ruffle his niece's hair. His action caused the little girl to wrinkle her nose before she straightened herself up and followed him into the living area, padding behind him quickly and making a beeline for her shoes._

 _As Daryl guided Ella towards the couch with his hand pressed against her back, he turned his head over his shoulder and shot Beth with a lop-sided grin that made her stomach dip. He really was gorgeous. Still, Beth pushed those thought away and didn't play up to his cockiness; deciding instead to cross her arms over her chest and shake her head at him, but she was very much unable to fight the smirk that was tugging at her lips._

 _The last few weeks had been hectic to say the least, and Beth had insanely struggled to balance working at Lori's with studying for exams and completing her assignments without taking into account that she desperately wanted to see her boyfriend and his niece, too. Beth had missed spending quality time with Daryl and Ella in this way, but she was just glad that they could finally all relax together again now that her school year was coming to an end._

* * *

"Stay," Daryl murmured against the back of her neck, and Beth whimpered as his lips ghosted against the column of her throat, exploring the smooth flesh there and peppering her with kisses.

How on earth was a woman supposed to refuse him of anything when he was doing _that?_

Beth nodded her head in a rushed acceptance, moaning as be brought his lips up to her earlobe and began to explore the area with his teeth. Daryl seemed pleased with her answer and continued to bite and suck at her upper earlobe as she writhed against him, her breathing becoming laboured as he began to work her up.

Shifting in position so that she was now straddling him, Beth hummed in pleasure when Daryl captured her lips in a kiss.

"I've missed you," she whispered to him as her hands began to fumble with his belt buckle. "So bad."

Daryl moved his hands over hers in an attempt to stop her in her movements and Beth obliged quickly, unable to comprehend why he would want her to stop.

"Not here," he mumbled against her lips.

Before Beth could push herself away from him and lead the way to his bedroom, Daryl wrapped his arms tightly against her waist and hoisted the pair of them up from the couch, carrying her with ease into the bedroom. Beth giggled as he carried her and Daryl shot her a playful smirk.

"Damn, girl," he muttered, feigning exhaustion as he kicked open his bedroom door. "You're heavier than you look."

Had it not been so apparent that he was teasing her then Beth may have been offended by his comment. Before she even had time to think of a witty remark to throw back at him, Daryl was not-so-gently throwing her down onto the bed. He turned around to close the door behind him whilst Beth bounced on her back against the mattress several times from the force of his throw, genuinely surprised at how excited it made her feel to see him behaving so dominantly around her.

Within a matter of seconds, Daryl was on her, the weight of his body pressing against hers and causing a delicious friction between them. Natural instinct took over and Beth shifted her hips upwards without even thinking too much into it, too caught up in the deep blue colour of his eyes to even worry herself about anything other than what was happening right there and then.

She was inexperienced, that much was true; but she was a quick learner and even though Daryl wasn't the most vocal person that she knew, he was a good teacher. What he didn't say with his words, he said with his body - guiding her hands and moving her legs in a gentle yet firm way. Daryl always took care of her needs before his own, and even if she was inexperienced, she knew that she was lucky to be with someone who was anything but selfish.

The pair had returned to sharing heated and passionate kisses and then Daryl was moving his head, beginning to kiss a trail down her jawline and then her neck. Beth let out a moan as his tongue dipped out of his mouth as Daryl licked and sucked against her sensitive skin, causing her eyes to roll back in her head and her knees to tremble.

Not many people knew about their relationship because Daryl was still nervous about news getting round to his niece about their relationship. If there was anything that Ella didn't need, it was to be confused; but even more so it was to be told about the two of them being together by one of her classmates instead of by Daryl and Beth. In that moment, though, Beth decided that she really could care less what anybody else thought about them and what anyone else said about them, either. Screw what anyone thought about the mysterious rugged man who was still considered new to town, screw what anyone thought about her, the wide-eyed and innocent farmer's daughter. All that mattered in that moment was Beth and Daryl; her hands on his biceps and his on her hips, his tongue on her throat and his hardness pressed against her heat.

So long as she had this - so long as she had _them -_ she would be happy.

* * *

"Daryl?"

Beth blinked her eyes open at the sound of the high-pitched voice timidly calling from the barely open doorway, the light from the hall creeping into the room. Her head was resting on Daryl's bare chest, one of his arms draped around her shoulders, the other resting over his eyes. Daryl let out a grunt at the sound of his niece entering the room, and Beth's blue eyes shot open suddenly at the sound of little footsteps padding across the space of the room.

Daryl removed his arm from over his eyes and let it rest at his side, craning his neck slightly so that he could get a glimpse of the tiny intruder. Beth's heart began to pound in her chest as Daryl pushed his back upwards from the bed, moving her along with him and in his sleepy state not realising what he had just done.

Nobody said anything for a long few seconds and then Daryl's own eyes widened in realisation. The way in which his heart sped up in his chest didn't go unnoticed to Beth, her cheek still pressed against him and able to feel the way he panicked in a similar manner to her. Beth's mouth was incredibly dry and she tried to swallow down her nerves, unsure of what to say in this awkward situation.

"Beth?"

Ella rubbed her eyes, clearly confused as to what was going on. Nibbling on her lower lip was and instinctual reaction and Beth shifted slightly against Daryl's chest, offering the little girl a soft smile and trying to play the whole thing down.

"Hi, sweetie," she whispered into the darkness, hoping that her voice didn't crack too much.

"What are you doing here?" Ella murmured, her brows pulled together in confusion. "I thought you went home?"

Beth cleared her throat and looked up at Daryl, silently begging him for help. It was clear from the shocked expression on his face that he really had no idea what was going on or how he should respond to the unexpected situation.

"I was going to," Beth explained, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "But it was really late, so your Uncle told me that I could sleep over."

"Oh," Ella said, accepting Beth's answer quite easily. "Okay. I couldn't sleep. I had a bad dream," she explained, and Beth nodded her head at that.

"Is everything alright?" Beth asked, leaning forward so that she could get a better look at the six year old's face.

Ella looked a little shaken up and tired, but nothing too extreme. Beth couldn't blame her for having bad dreams after everything that she had been through in her short life and hoped that it wouldn't seem awkward to Daryl if she invited the little girl into bed with them.

Before she even got the chance, Daryl stretched his arms out towards his niece and she instantly rushed closer towards him, smiling up at her Uncle as he picked her up from the floor with ease. Scooting over in the bed so to make room for Ella, Beth smiled lovingly down at her as Daryl lay her in between them both.

"Y'can stay," he mumbled to her, rubbing his eyes before shifting onto his side so that he was facing his niece.

Ella grinned at her Uncle and then at Beth as she snuggled closer to the man, turning her head to face Beth too. Beth looked down at the Dixon's for another brief moment before she settled herself under the covers, too; her eyes drooping to a shut as her head rested against the soft pillow that just wasn't as comfortable as Daryl's strong chest.

"Goodnight, Beth," Ella whispered into the darkness, and Beth didn't try and fight her smile.

"Goodnight, Ella."

The last thing that Beth thought before she drifted off to sleep was that from now on, her and Daryl needed to be extra careful.

* * *

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	17. Chapter 17

_**"When will I see you again?**_

 _ **You left with no goodbye, not a single word was said."**_

 _ **-**_ **'Don't You Remember', Adele**

* * *

The sound of a bell ringing and a door opening caused Ella to tighten her hold on Daryl's hand. He gave her hand a little squeeze before he led the way into the room, nodding to the prison guard who smiled kindly as his niece as they walked in. His deep blue eyes scanned the room for Merle and he felt Ella stiffen beside him at the sight of her father sat towards the back of the long room.

It had been months since Merle had first been locked up and this would be their first time visiting him. Apparently, he hadn't been on his best behaviour at first and so had basic privileges stripped from him, but now that he was being a good boy he was granted those privileges back one by one. He'd received a phone call from his brother a few weeks prior and he'd informed Daryl that his rights to visitation would be granted soon and that he was hoping to see Ella again. As much as Daryl was uncertain about the visit to his brother - after all, he didn't want to upset Ella or confuse her even more - he found that he couldn't say no.

After all, no matter how stupid or shitty he had been, Merle was Ella's father and he still had a right to see her. It wasn't for Daryl to walk around deciding who Ella was allowed to see, and she had expressed excitement at the prospect of seeing her father, so Daryl wasn't going to be the one to tell her no.

All it had taken was a phone call or two to the prison to find out dates of visitation and the hours that he was allowed to visit. It meant him taking the day off from work as a holiday and also pulling Ella out of school, but he figured that it would be worth it in the end. One day off from learning wasn't going to hurt - hell, he'd had plenty more than just one in his time and he didn't turn out quite so bad.

"Daddy!" Ella called as she rushed towards her father, not interested in the sad looks that were being thrown her way from some of the prison guards and the other visitors as she wrapped her arms around Merle's neck and hugged him tightly.

Merle chuckled as he embraced his daughter and Daryl would have probably smiled at the sight had the circumstances been different. But unfortunately, they weren't, so he slowly made his way over towards where his brother was sat and plonked himself down in one of the chairs, helping Ella up so that she could sit on the one next to him. Merle grinned at his brother from across the table and Daryl only nodded at him in acknowledgement.

"How's everythin'?" Merle asked, and Daryl shrugged his shoulders.

"Real good, daddy!" Ella shrieked, her eyes wide and her smile unmistakable.

"You bein' a good girl for your Uncle?" Merle asked her, leaning down slightly so that his eyes were on the same level as his daughter's.

Ella nodded her head up and down quickly.

"I sure am," Ella said confidently. "Beth's always makin' sure I'm a good girl for Uncle Daryl, too, daddy, so you don't gotta worry."

Merle raised a brow at that and looked up at Daryl.

"Beth?" he asked, his gaze shooting back to his daughter as she nodded her head rapidly.

"Yeah," Ella told him. "Beth's Uncle Daryl's girlfriend. She's real nice, daddy. An' real pretty, too."

Merle laughed at that and pushed himself back upright in his chair, his grin wide and teasing. Daryl could feel the tips of his ears start to burn under his brother gaze.

"She ain't my girlfriend," Daryl stuttered under his breath, taken aback by his niece's boldness.

It was a lie and he knew that his brother would be able to tell, but Daryl and Beth still had to tell Ella that they were together and he didn't want to do it without her there to help manouever the conversation. Ella rolled her eyes at that and shook her head.

"Daryl says that Beth's just a friend, daddy," Ella explained, her gaze shooting up to Daryl occasionally as she spoke. "But Daryl always gives her a ride home from work an' he lets her have sleepovers, too."

Who was this little girl, his mother? Daryl's eyes widened with every word that came out of his mouth and he mentally cursed himself for being so careless. He should have known that his niece was observant, but all of this information had been kept to herself for so long that he had no idea she had even noticed anything - at least, not really. Daryl was completely at a loss for words as his brother laughed at his expense from across the desk.

"That so, huh?" Merle asked his daughter, and Ella nodded her head.

"Sure is," she told him. "Daryl's bein' real silly not askin' Beth to be his girlfriend, ain't he daddy?"

Merle smirked knowingly at his brother and Daryl wondered just how red his face had gone.

"Sure sounds to me like he is, sweetheart," he said smugly. "Guess you'll just have to put him in his place, huh?"

* * *

Daryl sighed heavily as he pulled up outside of Lori's store, Ella chattering away happily in the backseat about something or other. As much as he'd had his reservations about taking the six year old to visit her father in prison, Ella had been in an awfully positive mood as a result of it for the rest of the day.

The car door opened and Beth jumped in quickly, grinning at both Daryl and Ella as she positioned herself in the passenger seat.

"I hear congratulations are in order," Daryl said with a smirk as Beth's cheeks burned red.

"You do?" she said, giggling a little when he nodded.

"Yep," he responded, popping the 'p' as Ella leaned forward in her seat, placing one of her hands on the back of the headrest on the drivers side.

"I told him!" she squealed excitedly.

Beth played along with the little girl as though she hadn't been the one to tell Daryl the news that she had officially graduated from college with first class honors as Daryl drove away from the store, smiling the whole way back to his apartment as Ella chattered on at Beth about her visit with Merle that day.

It was up to Beth to decide what she wanted to eat for dinner and she announced that she was in the mood for Chinese, earning a little _whoop_ of excitement from Ella and a grin from Daryl. He wasted no time in ordering the food, not having to ask either of the two girls what they wanted to eat - by now, he knew their orders off by heart and recited them with ease down the phone.

The food was delivered pretty quickly and as always, Daryl didn't give Beth any opportunity to pay towards her share, using the excuse that it was his treat due to her good news about graduating - even though they both knew that it wasn't the case. Beth blushed and dipped her head when he offered her a wink with his words and she didn't protest the matter any further than that except for insisting that she dish the food out onto the plates.

Nights like these were what made it all worth it to him. Ella may not have been his daughter, but he definitely saw the pair of them as _his girls_ , and if he thought too much on it then he would probably give himself a headache. Instead of running away from the feelings that were stirring in his chest towards Beth, he chose to embrace them, allowing her to creep her way into his heart even if he had guarded it with walls for longer than he even knew.

He sent Ella to bed shortly after their food with the promise that she could see Beth again at the weekend since he had already organised to take her to visit the farm again. That seemed to do the trick and Ella didn't put up much of a fight as her Uncle tucked her into bed and placed a kiss on her temple before closing her curtains and turning out her bedroom light, whispering words of " _go_ _odnight"_ and _"sweet dreams"_ as he closed the door behind him.

Beth was on him almost as soon as he stepped back into the living room.

Her kiss caught him by surprise at first and he stepped backwards at the force of her lunging at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and cupping the back of his head with her hands whilst her lips pushed onto his. But he only faltered for a second and then he was returning her kiss with equal amounts of passion, resting his hands on Beth's hips and groaning into her mouth as he gripped onto the flesh there.

It could have been hours that they stayed locked in each other's embrace for, but eventually the passionate and heated kisses that they were sharing slowed down. Daryl pulled his lips away from hers and rested his forehead against her own, chest rising and falling heavily as he caught his breath, deep blue eyes searching her own.

The breathless giggle that escaped her lips could have damn well killed him.

"Wha' was that for?" he mumbled, still out of breath as she pulled away and trotted over towards the couch, throwing herself down on it easily.

Beth just shrugged her shoulders at him as he made his way over towards her.

"Just because," she explained as he lifted her legs and sat himself down next to her.

Daryl raised a brow at that but didn't say anything more as Beth grabbed the remote and flicked the television on.

"So I take it that the visit with your brother went quite well," Beth commented.

Daryl nodded his head as Beth flicked through the channels of the television, the obvious sense of comfort that she felt in Daryl's apartment evident. He didn't mind - not one bit. In fact, he found that he actually _enjoyed_ her being like this in the place that he called home instead of walking on eggshells.

"Went alrigh'," he said, trailing off for a moment before he turned to look at her. "We've got a problem, though."

Beth cocked a brow at that, inviting him to continue.

Daryl had never been good with words and he knew that Beth knew that, too; so he drew in a deep inward breath before he told her what had happened in less than a few words.

"Ella told Merle that you're my girlfriend."

The expression on Beth's face changed to one of comfort and gentleness to one of shock within seconds. At first, she opened her mouth as if she was going to say something but couldn't quite find the words, and then once she finally did find the words to say, she stuttered over them.

It was evident that she was taken aback by her boyfriend's blunt explanation and Daryl almost felt guilty for it.

"I - she said _what?_ " Beth asked.

Daryl would have probably chuckled to himself had he not been so surprised when he first heard Ella break the news about their relationship to his brother earlier that same day, too. The pair of them had both been negligent when it came to giving Ella credit about how observant she was, although it was Daryl who should have really known better considering it was exactly the way that he was, too.

The little girl had been living with him for quite some time now - it was bound to happen that she would pick things up about him and learn to be like him, too.

"I know," he sighed, rubbing one of his eyes with his knuckles. "Don't even know where it came from. She started tellin' him everythin', sayin' that you've been stayin' here an' that you're my girlfriend and all sorts o' shit. Didn't know what to say to her."

Beth swallowed and broke the eye contact to look at her hands that were placed on either of her thighs. She rubbed them up and down her legs several times before letting out a long sigh and returning her gaze to Daryl's.

"Do you think that we should tell her?" Beth asked, and after a few seconds, Daryl nodded his head.

"Yeah," he breathed out, never breaking eye contact with her. "Yeah, I think we should."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	18. Chapter 18

**_"This bittersweet ecstasy that you got me in, falling deep I can't sleep tonight;_**

 ** _And you make me feel like I'm out of my mind, but it's alright, it's alright, it's alright;_**

 ** _Cause nothing ever gets me high like this."_**

 **\- Posion, Rita Ora**

* * *

Considering what Daryl had told her had happened during the visit to Merle in prison; it was quite obvious to both Beth and Daryl that Ella knew that the two of them were in a relationship, however, Beth still thought that it would be more appropriate to discuss the matter - as gently and as simply as possible - with the six year old as opposed to simply leaving her to continue on with her assumptions about the pair. Much to Beth's delight, Daryl didn't put up much of a fight at all when she broke the news that she wanted to tell his niece that they were together now - in fact, Daryl had actually gone and done quite the opposite and had readily agreed with Beth's opinion on the matter.

Still, the younger woman had decided that she would probably need to take matters into her own hands to get herself somewhere with it all.

 _"I think that if she hears it from me, then she'll be a lot more comfortable asking questions,"_ Beth had explained to her boyfriend as they discussed it over dinner in the local diner a few nights before. It was a night where Andrea had invited Ella round to have a sleepover with her daughters, and once Ella had overheard the older woman mention it to Beth once she had collected her after work, it quickly became apparant that Daryl didn't have a choice about letting her stay over - even if he wanted to stop her.

Thankfully, that hadn't been the case; Daryl trusted Andrea well enough - plus there was the fact that Martinez had recently started staying at his ex-wife's house again, so it wasn't as though the woman was there all on her own to deal with three excitable young girls - and it meant that he and Beth could enjoy a rare evening together where they were completely alone. Beth adored her boyfriend's niece and never became frustrated or irritated or even disappointed about their lack of time that they actually got to spend alone together, but she had to admit that it was fun to enjoy Daryl's adult company without always wincing when he swore or constantly talking in a softer tone.

In response to her statement, Daryl had simply offered Beth a more-than knowing look before he made sure to remind her that his niece was more than comfortable to go out of her way to ask people questions regardless of who else was there, who the person was or even where they were at that moment in time. Accepting defeat, Beth had bowed her head sheepishly in response, knowing full well that Daryl was right and that there wasn't really actually anything that she could say to counter his argument.

But _still,_ the young woman couldn't shake off her idea about telling Ella - she genuinely believed that it would be better all-round if Ella heard the news about their relationship from Beth; reasoning with herself that it was probably because of the fact that Daryl was a little more blunt about things than she was (to say the least, of course) and that she would probably be much more delicate when delivering the news. Beth also thought that it would give the two girls the opportunity to have some bonding time - _alone._

Once she had explained her logic to him, Daryl had chosen to simply shrug his shoulders at her in response before he shoved some fries into his mouth. When Beth had laughed, his lips had twitched up into a smile before he told her that she could _"do whatever the hell you wan', girl, I ain't too fussed"._ Unable to help herself, Beth had placed the palms of her hands flat against the surface of the table before she rested her weight on them and leaned across the booth that they were sat in so that she could place a chaste kiss to Daryl's lips.

* * *

It was a few days later that Beth chose to discuss the topic of their relationship with Ella.

The idea of telling Ella had been on her mind for quite some time, and she had been worrying about doing it over the course of the last few days. Eventually, Beth settled on discussing the topic with Ella whilst the two of them were at the local swimming pool, thinking to herself that it would be a nice, fun activity for them to do whilst they talked over the topic.

It also meant that Beth could get a new swimming costume for Ella to wear, and that was obviously a plus.

Now that Beth had graduated from college, she had found that she was either spending the majority of her free time working at Lori's or helping with Daryl to look after his niece. In doing so, this meant that the amount of time that the young woman was spending at the farmhouse with her parents was decreasing week after week, and naturally her parents were becoming curious about where Beth was.

Annette and Hershel Greene were also becoming considerably pushy about wanting to meet Beth's new boyfriend; encouraging her several times to invite Daryl round for dinner at the farm one Sunday, but Beth was still quite hesitant about it - at least for now, anyway.

It wasn't that Beth didn't want Daryl to meet her family, although that may have been what it seemed like to her mama and daddy. In fact, it was actually quite the opposite - she was desperate for him to, really, and she couldn't wait to see just how much her parents liked him, too. Although Daryl mostly kept himself to himself around town; people were very curious about the new guy and his niece, and her mama and daddy were no exception.

The thing was that Beth didn't think that it would be _right_ to introduce Daryl to her parents before his own niece even kenw what was going on between the two of them. It was something that Beth couldn't quite explain; but she knew that it didn't sit well with her, and so she wouldn't go through with it.

Once Beth had explained herself to her parents, it seemed as though Annette was the one who was the most understanding about it. Hershel didn't back off quite as much as his wife had - instead, he remained to be quite adamant that he wanted to meet the man who his youngest daughter was so taken with. Still, that didn't mean that Annette wasn't just as curious as her husband; and whilst Hershel seemed more interested in meeting Daryl to mostly give himself a peace of mind, Annette was just plain nosy and wanted to know all about Daryl Dixon just for the sake of it.

Daryl's shift pattern's were becoming longer as he built up a reasonable amount of overtime, and sometimes the shifts that he worked could be a little bit unpredictable, too. Beth had somehow started her own routine of collecting Ella straight from school if she wasn't busy working at Lori's so that Andrea didn't have to pick her up, and if she was working when Ella finished school then she would collect the little girl from Andrea's house (if Daryl hadn't already done so). Somewhere along the line, Daryl had gifted Beth with a key to his apartment; although she supposed that they may as well share the place considering the fact that she ended up spending more time there than she did at the farm.

So long as Beth managed to find herself a local teaching job - she had a couple of interviews lined up, although she had her eye on the job that was going working at the elementary school that Ella attended - then she wouldn't be having to start work until the very end of August, anyway, which meant that she would have plenty of free time over the summer to help out with her boyfriend's niece whenever she wasn't already busy working at Lori's.

As much as Beth tried not to get too ahead of herself, she couldn't help it when her mind wandered and her thoughts drifted towards ideas about seeing Ella at school; dropping her off in the morning's as she went to teach and picking her up after the day at school was done.

There had been a few times that Daryl had mentioned that he might start looking around to pay someone to look after his niece, but the youngest Greene girl was set in her mind that so long as she was free, then she would look after Ella for him - and not a chance would she accept a penny for doing it.

As much as Beth had wanted to bring up the topic of her and Daryl to Ella, it seemed that the six year old had other plans for them both. It would have probably been concerning if Beth hadn't picked up on just how curious the little girl was - especially about the relationship that Beth had with her uncle - so she supposed that she should have really expected it when Ella jumped at the first opportunity she got to quiz her about what was going on with her and Daryl.

Still, Ella's blunt line of questioning still managed to catch Beth by surprise.

"Beth, do you love Daryl?"

The question itself had really come out of nowhere. The two girls had only just got themselves settled into the lukewarm water of the local pool and Beth was tying up her hair into a messy bun as Ella watched her intently, her blue eyes never straying too far from Beth's own.

Unfortunately, Beth had never been the coolest girl around and wasn't any good at brushing things off calmly - so she wasn't exactly sure what it was that she was supposed to say in response to the little girl's intrusive question.

"What do you mean?"

Beth stuttered through her words, the pitch of her voice rising by a considerable amount.

Ella blinked up at Beth expectantly.

"Do you love Daryl?" she repeated, her brows furrowing slightly as the words came out of her mouth once again.

Still unsure of what to say to Ella, Beth figured it was probably best to be honest with the little girl. Besides, Ella was too smart for her own good sometimes - she probably already knew the answer to her own question, even if it was something that Beth had been struggling to admit to herself for the last few weeks - maybe even months.

Beth was quiet for a little while, busying herself with her hair. Once that was finished, Beth crouched further down into the warm water so that her chin was resting on top of it before she cleared her throat and attempted to speak with a confident voice.

"Yes."

* * *

"Mama and daddy want to meet you," Beth said as she unfastened her seatbelt. For a split second, Daryl actually looked to be quite panicked, but Beth quickly reassured him with a knowing smile. "Not _now,_ " she explained, unable to hold back her grin. "But sometime soon."

Daryl nodded his head at that.

"Okay?" Beth pushed, her voice wavering slightly due to her own uncertainty.

Beth knew enough about her boyfriend's past to understand that the only family that he had for her to ever be introduced to was his older brother, and considering Merle would be in prison quite far into the foreseeable future, there would never be that same pressure put on Beth to meet with Daryl's family. Still, Beth knew that her parents would love him; after all, it was difficult not to. He might have seemed a little rough around the edges at first, but Daryl was sweeter than sugar really, and that was more than obvious once you got to know him.

"Alright," Daryl told her with a nod of his head.

Her smile widened impossibly, her cheeks tinted with pink when Daryl let out a low chuckle at her joyful expression. Beth pushed herself forward so that she could place a kiss to his lips, trying to fight away the urge to just stay with him once again tonight. Unfortunately, they both had work early, so Beth had thought that it would be easier to just stay at the farmhouse tonight.

Apparantly, she had forgotten just how hard it was to leave him.

"I'll see you soon," she murmured against his lips, her eyes fluttering open to meet his. Daryl only responded to her with a nod of his head, and Beth pressed one more chaste kiss against his lips before she removed herself from the car and jogged up the porch steps to her house.

* * *

 **OK, so I am really sorry about how long this has taken me to update. I ended up writing this chapter about three or four times because I wasn't happy with it, and then when I actually was, I somehow ended up losing it all and it was so frustrating I wanted to cry. I've also been so busy writing my other stories and I've somehow ended up neglecting this so yeah... Enough with the excuses. I'm sorry, okay! I promise I'll make sure to keep updating this on a more regular basis as I don't want it to get too long again.**

 **As always, thanks so much for reading (and being so patient for this chapter) - please review and let me know what you think!**


	19. Chapter 19

**I know, I know. I'm useless at updating. I'm sorry! I've been focusing on my other fics way more and my muse just was not coming to me, so because I'm going away for two weeks I've sat down and literally forced this chapter out of me.  
**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **"Hold on to me I'll never want to let you go,**_

 _ **Over the weekend we can turn the world to gold."**_

 **\- 'Run Away With Me', Carly Rae Jepson  
**

* * *

"This is some good spaghetti," Ella said as she slurped up more of the food into her mouth as loudly as she possible could, the pasta disappearing into her mouth quickly - although some of the sauce did splatter onto her cheek to join the rest that was around her mouth. The action caused Hershel Greene to let out a low chuckle from where he sat at the head of the table in the kitchen and Daryl simultaneously looked down at where his tiny niece sat in the chair beside him. The older man smiled down affectionately at Ella before he returned his attention back towards his own meal.

From where Beth was sat next to her mama directly across the way from both Daryl and Ella, she couldn't help but smile warmly at the young girl, too. This evening had been the first time that Daryl had met both of her parents and he had also been introduced to them not as just a friend, but as her _boyfriend,_ and Beth was more than relieved about that. The whole meeting had gone well; with her mama leaning in to place a kiss on his cheek and her daddy offering him a firm handshake as greeting, and Annette and Hershel both seemed to really enjoy Daryl's company.

It was also safe to say that the pair of them were absolutely taken by his young niece.

Thankfully, neither of her parents opened their mouths to ask any questions about Ella's father, which Beth was incredibly grateful for. It wasn't as if she was embarrassed about the whole situation, per se; but she wasn't exactly sure how Daryl felt about explaining to people that his brother was in prison and had been locked up for a long time. It wasn't exactly something that she thought that he would be _ashamed_ of - after all, it was hardly a reflection on him and his character - but Merle was just a subject that Beth did not want to have to tackle tonight.

For the first time in what felt like a very long time, things seemed to be going incredibly well in her life. She had graduated from college with first class honours, all of the interviews she had attended had gone extraordinary well and she had now accepted a place working as a teacher at the elementary school that Ella attended, and everything between her and Daryl was going extremely well.

In the back of her mind, though, there was a part of the young woman that couldn't help but worry herself about all of it. After all, she thought that it was probably only a matter of time before _something_ went wrong; because over her short life, Beth had learned that things always seemed to go wrong, especially when everything seemed perfect. And although she knew that Daryl more than anyone relied on her to look more on the bright side of things since he was the one who always was realistic about everything, it was moments like this - moments when she was really, truly happy - that it finally hit home for her that things would not always be this easy.

Still though, Bet tried her hardest to push those thoughts away and instead she focused on enjoying the meal with her family and her boyfriend. The two of them had spent so much time together now that Daryl practically _was_ family to her at this point, and so was Ella, too; so she couldn't help but wonder to herself how on earth it had taken this long for her to introduce Daryl Dixon to both of her parents.

Hershel Greene had always been an over-protective father, especially when it came to his youngest daughter, but her daddy had surprised her by not bombarding her man with dozens of questions about Daryl and Beth and cringe-worthy comments about how he expected Daryl to treat his youngest daughter. In her heart, Beth knew that even if her father would have chosen to go down that route with their first meeting it would only be because he cared about her a lot and because he was only unsure of Daryl on a whole because the man was an unfamiliar face.

Technically Daryl Dixon was still kind of new to town - a stranger with a distant name and a mysterious past - and Hershel and Annette knew absolutely nothing about him.

Thankfully for Beth though, her daddy was more than backed off from Daryl's personal space and treated him just like he would treat any other guest. The older man didn't bother to fuss Daryl or to try and squeeze any information out of him, which Beth was relieved about. From beside her, Annette kept shooting her exaggerated winks and knowing smiles, and she occasionally nudged her in the ribs with her elbow every now and again - which actually sort of hurt - and her expression was always one of approval whenever Daryl cleared his throat and said something that she liked the sound of.

Unable not to, Beth grinned happily at her mama as the five of them ate their homecooked meal. The food was absolutely delicious (although Beth expected nothing less from her mother's cooking, it was always absolutely spot on) and the youngest Greene girl was certain that absolutely all of them were full once their plates were empty.

Nobody refused Annette's offer of dessert, though.

* * *

It was late - probably gone half past ten - by the time that Daryl and Ella finally left the farmhouse. The six year old had fallen asleep a good hour or so ago and was flat out as her uncle said goodbye to her parents and thanked them both for having them - and feeding them - to which Annette informed Daryl that the two of them were welcome around the farmhouse any time they wanted to be.

As much as Beth would have very muched liked to have joined Daryl as he gathered everything together and got set to return back to his apartment, she knew that it would probably be a better idea for her to just stay at home tonight considering the fact that Daryl had work quite early the next morning. It was only another week or so until Beth finally began working at the local elementary school and she wanted to be absolutely sure that she had everything in place before she began, so she supposed that having a day or two to herself over the next week wasn't all that bad of an idea, anyway.

It was an adorable sight to see the broad man carrying the tiny slip of a girl in his arms as though she weighed nothing, and he was completely unphased by the way that she was drooling all over his shoulder in her sleep. Beth smiled sweetly as she followed Daryl down the porch steps of the house towards where his car was parked up and she held open the passenger side door for him whilst he settled Ella into her seat, clipping the seatbelt in around her - all the while she still stayed fast asleep.

He grunted out a thanks to her once he had Ella settled in and then moved to shut the car door, the action causing Beth to take several steps backwards so to give him some more space. Once the car door was shut - quietly - behind him, Daryl deep blue eyes locked with Beth's own much lighter ones, and the young woman suddenly felt slightly nervous.

"Thank you for coming here tonight," Beth said, tucking a strand of her long blonde hair behind her ear as she smiled softly up at Daryl, both of their eyes burning into the others. Pushing himself up from where he had been leaning one of his elbows on the roof of the car, Daryl straightened up his upper body and cleared his throat.

Maybe he was feeling a little bit nervous, too.

The older man took a step towards her and turned his head so that he could get a glance at his sleeping niece before he turned to face Beth once again, edging closer to her with every second.

"It ain't nothin'," Daryl told her with a shrug of his broad shoulders. "You're folks are good people."

At his words, Beth immediately nodded her head up and down, whole heartedly agreeing with him on that. "Yeah," she breathed, her light blue eyes never flickering away from his own, not even for a second. "Yeah, they are."

It was quiet between the two of them for a long moment after that before Beth spoke up again, her voice soft and low. "An' so are you," she practically murmured, edging closer towards him and effectively closing the small distance that Daryl had been keeping between the two of them. She placed one of her palms flat against his chest, her thumb brushing back and forth several times against the hard muscle underneath his shirt.

At her affectionate words, Daryl just dipped his head and looked at the floor, finally breaking their intense eye contact. It was clear that the older man was a little embarrassed by what she had said to him, but she meant every word that she ever said, especially when it came to him being a good man - a good person. He had taken well enough care of his niece for almost one year now since his brother had been locked away, and it was clear for anyone to see that Ella absolutely adored staying with her uncle, too.

As far as Beth was aware (and she was around him an awful lot), Daryl had never once complained about the responsibility of taking care of Ella. Just knowing that made her love him even more.

As he tilted his head up so that he could look at her once more, Daryl brushed his nose against her own and the action made Beth's smile widen slightly. "I ain't too good with all this shit," he mumbled, words barely audible and his eyes downcast as he spoke.

Just because he wasn't looking straight at her didn't mean that Beth wasn't looking right up at him though; her light blue eyes practically shining as they scanned over his face, her expression one of understanding. "You seem like you're doin' a pretty good job of everythin' to me," she responded softly, bumping his nose with her own once more in an attempt to grab his attention.

When Daryl let out a sigh and looked straight into her eyes once again, Beth tried her best to catch her breath before she closed the distance between them and placed a kiss against the older man's lips. It was chaste at first and Daryl was a little bit stuff underneath her hands, but after just a couple of seconds he relaxed into the embrace. Not wanting to lose contact with him, Beth's arms rose up to wrap around his neck and then his hands instinctively moved to rest against either side of her hips, pulling her body flush against his own.

The kiss that they shared was slow but passionate nonetheless, and when Beth felt the familiar sensation of heat and desire beginning to pool in her lower belly, she pulled away from his lips with a desperate gasp for air. Their faces were still incredibly close together and Daryl bent down to press one final chaste kiss against her swollen lips before he released his firm grip on her hips and took a step back from her body. At his movement, Beth's arms fell from where they had been locked around his shoulders so that they now fell casually by her sides.

"I'll call you tomorrow," Daryl said to her, his voice firm and confident, leaving no room to question his words. Beth just nodded her head at him and took a step back as he made his way towards the drivers side door, Ella still fast asleep in her seat.

The young blonde watched as Daryl started up the engine and then drove away, her lips still tingling even as his car disappeared. After a good few seconds of staring into the darkness, a grin lit up across Beth's face and she couldn't help but giggle into the air, shaking her head at just how ridiculous she was being.

She was acting like a pre-teen girl.

But Daryl Dixon just seemed to have that effect on her.

There was a chill in the night air that made Beth shudder all of a sudden and she wrapped her arms around herself, hugging her body closely as she continued to stare out into the darkness. After a few more seconds, the young blonde turned around and made her way up the porch steps of the farmhouse.

Her lips were still tingling when she climbed into bed and fell asleep.


End file.
